ALS3: The Wedding
by Dimitri's.Smexi.Shewolf
Summary: What we've all been waiting for: the Romitri wedding. Follow the journey they take to reach the church, walk down the aisle, and begin the next chapter of their lives. For better or worse, and through tears of every kind, they're in for a crazy ride. Part 5 in my AFTER LAST SACRIFICE series.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again! :D **

**Exams are over, my Arts Award has been handed in and marked, and I finally have some free time! I figured that if I couldn't find time to edit & post on the longest day of the year, there was really not a chance any other time :P  
So here is the long-awaited Part 5 of my ALS series, which centres around Rose and Dimitri's wedding. **

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy is the intellectual property of ****Richelle Mead, not me. Insert rest of disclaimer-y stuff here. **

* * *

It was a good thing that I'd had so much practice zoning out during boring speeches and lessons, because otherwise I would possibly have died of boredom by now.

The day had began like any other, with Dimitri and I waking up together, him having to lure me out of bed with the promise of food, and going to the kitchen for breakfast.

That was when it changed. Lissa had come and ambushed us just as we were leaving for the gym. She'd realised that it was exactly a month until our wedding, and we hadn't booked anything except the church. In all fairness, that had been the problem. Apparently our plan for a July wedding had been shared by just about everyone else in Siberia. Honestly, I hadn't thought the population was big enough for churches to be booked out.

So, it was either book into the church on the 21st of June, or wait until October. Lissa's situation made that a little difficult, as she'd be 7 months pregnant then, and unable to fly out to Russia. Moroi had delicate pregnancies due to their low haemoglobin levels, and the risk increased with time as the baby's oxygen demand increased. Because of this, there was no way any of us were letting her on a plane after her third trimester.

But the slight pressure to get everything organised on time and our busy schedules meant that Lissa had gone into maid-of-honour-overdrive. Since today she had been relatively meeting-free, she had spent the day compiling a wedding ideas scrapbook. When I'd told her that I didn't have one already, and was planning on just deciding on things as I went along, he'd almost had a heart attack and had flown into action to find a ring binder right then. I'd been on duty outside her study, but had heard the printer firing out paper for most of the day, so had known she had been busy. But the thickness of the folder was alarming, seeing as it had been empty just this morning. It had also been a plain dark blue, but was now adorned with floral paper and crinkled ribbon. There were even a few sequins on there. It looked like a fairy had exploded onto it.

One look at that folder and Lissa's excited body language, and I knew I couldn't face this alone. I had stalled with dubious gossip for half an hour, until Dimitri finished his shift. I'd then dragged him over (and threatened that solitary overexposure to chiffon might reduce my libido) to help 'plan'.

Which was why we were now sitting side by side on the sofa, trying equally hard not to run for the hills as Lissa took us through the pros and cons of various kinds of confetti.

"This one you can personalise, so you could have your initials or little cute pictures of something- like little stakes! Or if you go for this one, it's glittery so will catch the sunlight. But glitter's kind of bad for the environment, so maybe a biodegradable one would be better. They come in pastel colours, which are pretty..." On it went, and in the end I just spaced out completely. It was like being back in one of Stan's lessons back at the Academy. He talked, I ignored...

"Rose!"

"Sorry?"

She glared. "Were you even listening just then?"

I shot a panicked glance at Dimitri, how gave me a look as though to say I was on my own. Ass. I was marrying him after all. "Of course."

"Then what did I just say?"

Yep, definitely like being back at the Academy. Time to see if my bullshitting skills were still as sharp as ever. "I didn't really hear much after the biodegradable thing, because I had an idea. We could... collect up all the little paper circles from all the hole punches in Court and use them in confetti. That's recycled _and_ biodegradable, and think of all the, um, symbolism." She wasn't buying it. I had to try harder. "You know, like we were given a second chance to be together, and those paper circles are being given a second chance to be useful and meeting up with the other circle from the same piece of paper to go and be free together..." What was I even saying? Dimitri looked incredulous at the rubbish I was spouting, and Lissa was just getting angrier and angrier.

"Rose! You never take anything seriously!"

"What?" I protested. "I did take that seriously! Didn't you hear the part about the symbolism-"

"I've spent ages researching confetti retailers, and you come out with hole punchings?! Why do I even bother?"

It was probably the pregnancy hormones making her worked up, so I decided to humour her. "Look, Liss, if it means that much to you, then you can choose the confetti."

It didn't help. She stood up, slamming the scrapbook shut. "That's not the point! I'm the maid of honour, not the bride. You just seem to have no interest in this, and all you can do is make half-assed excuses and stupid jokes." Ouch. Burn. "And Dimitri, you haven't even said anything at all! This is a waste of time. I'm going to leave so you two can get on with whatever it is you'd much rather be doing!"

My instant response would have been 'each other', but I bit it back as she stormed out of the room.

"Who pissed in her Cheerios this morning?" I said rhetorically, rolling my eyes.

Dimitri held back a smile. He wouldn't be as blunt as me, but Lissa's antics has been more than a little irritating lately. "She's being a bit..."

"Volatile? Explosive? No kidding." I sighed. "Let's see what other delights she has in store for us."

I picked up the scrapbook and opened it between us, flicking through page after page of printed pictures cut out and stuck neatly onto the paper.

"Hey, they aren't bad," Dimitri said, holding a page open.

"Yeah, they're okay, actually. At least we have something to discuss with Lissa so we don't look completely incompetent. Though honestly, she should calm down a bit. It's _our_ wedding after all."

Just then, I turned the page to find a different kind of paper. There was a brown manila envelope, and I opened it up to find a few sheets of yellowed paper, covered in crayon drawings and scribbles.

There was a blonde and a brown haired stick-girl, each standing very close to a basic stickman wearing some kind of suit. The girls had white triangles for bodies and squares covering half their faces. The sky was a thin blue band across the top of the paper. One side of the drawing was considerably neater than the other, with loopy writing reading 'Lissa's wedding'. The other side had something that looked like 'Rase's Uedaing'. There was a sketch of a single church in the background, with multicoloured confetti falling like rain around the couples and 'm'-shaped birds in the sky. There was also something which looked suspiciously like a bomb edited to look like a balloon.

"She still has this," I whispered with my hand over my mouth. "I remember it. We were planning our dream weddings, and we were going to have a joint one, just with a couple of friends. Lissa said Andre wouldn't be invited, so he wanted to nuke us." I smiled at the memory. "Lissa loved wedding planning even then. And I guess the big Court wedding she got didn't exactly meet this dream..."

Dimitri put a hand on my shoulder, running his fingers over my back. "Go talk to her. I'll look through the rest of the folder."

"Are you sure?"

He smiled, kissing me quickly. "Who knows, I might find some more of your drawings."

I got up to leave, turning back to add, "just to warn you, the grooms may be named as some of my 4th-grade crushes."

He smiled back. "I don't think I need to worry."

I winked. "That's what you think." With that, I headed next door into Lissa's apartment.

She was sitting on the sofa, pretending to read a magazine. I could tell that she was pretending as nobody could actually be _that_ engrossed in reading an advertisement about low-fat butter. I sat down beside her and pulled the paper from her hands.

"Hey, I was reading that!" she protested.

I rolled my eyes. "No, you weren't. 'Just 20% of the fat of ordinary spreads'. There, that took me all of three seconds, and you didn't turn the page after I came into the room." I threw the magazine onto the coffee table. "You were trying to avoid me."

She looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to strop off like I did, but you were just so... complacent. And that's not a word I associate with you or Dimitri normally."

I sighed, leaning back against the couch. "I know, Liss. We weren't exactly having much of an input. But to be honest, you weren't really letting us. You made the scrapbook, and that's really sweet. But you sort of took over a little there. You were going through all these plans for a big white wedding, and we just want something small and intimate."

She looked down. "I know that really. It's just- I didn't really get to plan my own wedding. Don't get me wrong," she added quickly, "it was perfect and I wouldn't have changed anything. But I didn't get to _plan_, and that's half the fun. When I imagined planning my wedding, I always saw the two of us doing it together, you cracking jokes the whole time and me getting annoyed."

"Are you saying I was a bad Maid of Honour?" I joked.

"Jokes like _that_. And no, not at all. You organised a great bachelorette and the second reception just for our friends. I just wanted to make sure that your wedding was perfect. I admit that I might have tried to hijack your wedding a little bit to make up for not having much of a choice in mine. But I also just wanted to make sure that your special day was perfect. You do everything or me, and sometimes I feel like I have so little to give you in return."

She sounded so sorry for herself that I had to forgive her. I loved Lissa to pieces, but sometimes she could be a little selfish. Okay, sometimes, she was _a lot_ selfish. But I wasn't free of flaws, and most of the time Lissa's heart was in the right place. I reached over and took her hands in mine.

"That's what friendship is, Liss. Giving and not wanting anything in return. Besides, you always believed in me and made me a part of your family. I don't know what I'd have done without you. Who knows, maybe I'd have ended up being an attic hermit like Christian!" I shuddered at the thought, and she laughed. "You're my MoH, and you have a job to do. Just maybe leave a little bit of the process for me? I'm actually getting quite into this wedding stuff."

Lissa's face lit up. "So we can go back to planning?"

"Yes, we can go back to planning. Just chill out a little, or you'll send Dimitri running for the hills. Or tundra, I guess."

Lissa was still giggling when we came back into my living room. Dimitri smiled when he saw my all-clear signal, and went back to looking at the folder in his lap.

This time, Lissa reined herself in a little bit. "Forget the confetti. What do you want to go over first?"

I shrugged, but Dimitri apparently had an idea. "Maybe we should do the guest list planned before anything else."

Lissa looked surprised that he had thought of the obvious thing that she had overlooked.

"Don't forget, Liss, Dimitri had more weddings than the rest of us put together." Lissa looked confused and Dimitri glared. "Not a single divorce though, as far as I'm aware. Just hundreds of suspicious deaths. It's a wonder you weren't looked into for life insurance scams." Dimitri's look made me pity Karolina the next time her saw her. I just grinned even more. "Guest list, right?"

Lissa pulled out a legal pad and a pen. "So how do you want to do this?" she asked. "Are you splitting your guests bride/groom?"

I shared a glance with Dimitri. "Honestly, it would be too hard to decide who belonged to who."

Lissa had a solution for that. "Well, that's easy. You imagine that the two of you have split up and are marrying different people, but on the same day. Your friends can only go to one of the weddings. Whichever one they would chose is whichever party they will be in. Like, for instance, I would go to Rose's wedding. No offence, Dimitri."

"None taken."

I was still getting my head around what she was saying. "What kind of a stupid question is that? Why even ask it? Why would we break up? Who are we marrying now? Why on the same day? Your logic is flawed!" Lissa and Dimitri laughed, which I thought was kind of weird. "It's not funny! Dimitri, why do you find the thought of us breaking up amusing? Lissa?" I was genuinely confused by Lissa's analogy and their reactions to it.

Dimitri just put an arm around me and pulled me close. Lissa was the one to speak. "It's your reaction that's funny. You got so worked up over the thought of you and Dimitri splitting up, which is obviously never going to happen."

I huffed, crossing my arms as Dimitri kissed my forehead. "Definitely never happening. It's nice to see how much you care, though."

I still felt like there was some joke I was missing out on, but decided it was best to just let it go. "Whatever. I have a better plan. We only have one jet with 20 seats, right?"

"Possibly an extra two seats if need be," Dimitri added.

"Right, so we pick those 20/22 people, plus the eight or so that will be flying out early. Since they have to come to both the ceremony and the reception, that will shorten the list of people we invite. Then we pick the same number of Russians to come to the ceremony, and more to come to the reception if need be. Sound alright?" I asked. Lissa and Dimitri were in agreement and Lissa wrote 'Americans' at the top of the page.

"Alright, each of you say a name and I'll write them down. We can shortlist if we have to later."

"Lissa." I started, and she smiled before writing her name down.

"Christian." Dimitri added.

"Mia."

"Eddie."

"Adrian."

"Sydney."

"My mom and Abe."

"That's two names."

Lissa started to write the last one before realising half way through the words that they weren't actually a name, and crossed them out with an irritated scribble. I didn't want the anger of ruining her perfect list to be aimed at me, so naturally, dropped Dimitri in it.

"Technically, one is a common noun, the other is a proper noun. Therefore, only one counts as a 'name' in the context Lissa used it." Both Lissa and Dimitri stared at me incredulously. "What? I need material to base my logic on." I gave myself a mental pat on the back. Most of the time, it was a little embarrassing that Dimitri's English was probably better than mine. Right now, though, I'd one-upped him.

"Rose, how do you even remember that? I know for a fact you slept through or messed around in most of your English lessons."

I shrugged. "Must have accidentally been listening that time. My mistake. Putting my genius-like mind aside for now, can we carry on before I forget who we've said?"

And so we did. Before long, we a list with people organised under sub-headings.

_St. Vlads__  
__Alberta__  
James  
Meredith_ (she'd forgiven me for knocking her out)  
_Shane_ (If there was a party with free drink, he'd be there)  
_Jill_

_Court__  
Sonya  
Mikhail  
Serena_  
_Hans  
Hanna_ (Who had recovered well after being injured in the warehouse raid)  
_Pavel  
Adam_

It was actually sad writing the list. Though I tried to keep positive, it was hard not to think of all the people who should have been on there. Celeste, Grant, Emil, Yuri, Mason...  
But that was something I was going to have to get used to. In our profession, friends died. It was as simple as that. It would never be easy, but we just had to go on as best we could. As long as Dimitri was safe, I could handle it.

Reviewing the lists, I felt like someone was still missing. We'd added the Guardians we'd become closest to since coming to Court, but that wasn't it. Someone back at school...

"What's that look for, Rose?" Lissa asked. "You're going to fry your brain."

"You have been spending way too much time with Christian, because that was mean." She smirked, making the likeness even greater. "It's nothing. I just had the strangest urge to invite Stan. No idea where that came from."

Lissa and Dimitri were both looking at me like maybe I might have a mental problem. "I thought you hated Stan?" Dimitri asked.

"I do! Well, I mean, he saved my life and everything, but that aside he's still a twat. I guess I just want to show off about how I'm not the epic failure he always said I would become. He was such a dick. Nope, so not getting an invite. Asking Hans was weird enough." I guess it was just because Stan was one of the few that hadn't upped and died on me.

"When are you planning on getting your dress designed?" Lissa asked me. "It needs to be soon so it can be made in time."

I laughed outright at that. "Lissa, I'm not going to get my dress designed. One of the advantages of not being Queen is still being able to buy off-the-rack." She didn't looked convinced. "Plus, it'd be a shame to ruin couture if Dimitri takes 'ripping it off' literally."

The man in question choked on his coffee beside me as I cackled. Lissa covered her mouth with her hand demurely, trying to hold back laughter of her own. Once Dimitri recovered, he glared at me.

"Oh, get over it Comrade. It's not like Lissa thinks we're going to be playing Scrabble on our wedding night."

"After the noises that come from your bedroom? There's no doubt in my mind." Lissa teased.

Dimitri's blush deepened and he mumbled something. I hugged his arm and kissed his burning cheek.

"Aw, you are just the sweetest," I cooed.

Lissa was smiling too. "Well, someone in this wedding has to be blushing, and it isn't going to be the bride."

Dimitri looked between us. "I dread the speeches. Abe and Janine will try to kill me after listening to all the innuendo."

Lissa giggled as I held Dimitri tighter. "Don't worry baby, I'll protect you. I'll hide a stake in my bouquet to hold them off."

* * *

By the end of the night, we had chosen a colour scheme and a cake as well as finding a day that we could get out of Court to go dress shopping. I had my priorities straight- I wanted my order for a triple tier chocolate cake in early enough that there could be no excuses for it not being perfect. A layer of white, milk and dark chocolate sponge with marzipan and vanilla icing. There probably should have been a non-chocolate layer, but hey, it was my wedding. Our wedding. Whatever. If people didn't like it, they didn't have to eat it. Since Olena would be cooking the rest of the food, we could splash out on the cost of the cake. Dimitri had either been happy with my choice or unwilling to argue.

Colour-wise, we'd gone for indigo, since we could also get away with blue or purple that way. Lissa and Christian's wedding had been gold and green, with touches of light blue. Ours wouldn't be nearly as opulent as theirs, but it didn't need to be. We had each other, and that was all we'd ever need. Well, and an awesome cake.

We were lying in bed, basking in the afterglow of things that would have made Dimitri blush if he thought too hard about the fact that these interior walls were pretty thin. I wasn't sure if I'd actually get lucky tonight after Lissa's comment, but apparently Dimitri forgot to care when we were alone. For that, I was very thankful.  
Dimitri was playing with the fingers of my hand that rested on his chest. He was spinning my engagement ring around, and I was watching as the small diamond caught the rays of light spilling through the gap in the curtains as the sun rose.

"I can't wait to marry you," he whispered.

I tried, and probably failed, to raise an eyebrow. "Good think I didn't stick to my '2 in front' rule then."

"Was it my amazingly moving proposal speech that changed your mind?"

I laughed quietly at that, since it sounded like something I would say. "Possibly. But mainly because you're so old. You having grey hair in photos and not being able to 'perform' properly on the wedding night would spoil it."

"Rose, I think I have a good few years left before we have to worry about either of those things."

I smirked. "But when I'm 20 you'll be turning 26, and that's close to 30 and that's _old_-hey!"

My sentence was cut off as Dimitri suddenly rolled me over, leaning over me and using one hand to keep my arms locked above my head.

When he spoke, his voice was low and dangerous. "If you keep calling me old, I'll have to show you how wrong you are."

Now there was a thought. "Well, you are getting on a bit. What age is it that counts as an OAP? Maybe I could get money if I apply as a carer for the elderly-"

Dimitri growled as his lips covered mine, effectively cutting off anything else I was going to say.

Much to my annoyance, he pulled back after a minute. "I'm not old," he said.

I looked deep into his gorgeous brown eyes. "So prove it."

* * *

**ust in case anyone forgot, Hanna, James and Adam are OCs mentioned in previous titles in this series. **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I can't be sure when the next chapter will be up as I haven't written it and am still busy with Uni visits etc, but will endeavour to update as soon as I can :)**

**~ Dimitri's. Smexi. Shewolf x **

**Review and Dimitri will 'prove a point' to you ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy is not and will never be mine. However, in 2 days I will own the DVD :) **

* * *

_Days until wedding- 30_

When I shuffled out of the bedroom the next morning, my barely-awake brain took a moment to register the fact that Lissa was sitting across the breakfast across from Dimitri, staring intently at her computer screen. The tapping noise from her fingers flying across the keyboard was too loud before breakfast. Maybe I was just grouchy as I'd had so little sleep last night.

"Why are you here?" I grumbled. Her chair was pushed out in a way that made getting to the counter really awkward.

"Charming," she said. "Nice to know I'm wanted."

"Hello," I said snarling.

"She hasn't had breakfast yet," Dimitri said by way of explanation. Reaching back to the work surface beside the sink, he brought a bowl of cereal forward and placed it at the empty place at the table. I sat down, grabbing the milk and pouring it before digging into my lucky charms. Lissa and Dimitri shared a look over the top of laptop, but i chose to ignore it. Once my cereal was finished, I was feeling much more sociable.

"So, seriously. What brings you here so early?" I asked Lissa.

"I just realised that we've booked in a day to go dress shopping but that you're a bridesmaid short."

Mental forehead slap. "Of course. We need check if Viktoria can get over here. I'll ask Abe about the plane later." Then I turned to Dimitri. "Do you think your mom would like to come as well? That way she can meet mine before the wedding."

Dimitri nodded, shifting his chair closer. "I was thinking the same thing. It might be a good thing to introduce then to Abe in a more... Personal capacity."

"Yeah, better they see him walking me down the aisle as 'father of the bride' rather than 'local mob boss and alleged criminal."

Dimitri chuckled, leaning down to kiss my cheek as he got up from the table. Unsatisfied, I grabbed his arm and titled my head up for more.

Reluctantly, he pulled away. "My shift starts in half an hour; I have to get ready. Why don't you Skype Vika and ask if she can come? I'll talk to them when I'm dressed."

That drew my attention to the fact that I'd missed my early morning ogling time since Dimitri was wearing a shirt, presumably as Lissa was here. That made me want to join him in that shower, but I also wanted to talk to Viktoria.

"Sure, I'll call them in a minute. Just as soon as I finish this," I promised as I poured another bowl of cereal. Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Don't judge me, Mr. Muesli. I wouldn't have to eat so much if you hadn't made me use so much energy last night."

He sighed in defeat before turning away, and I high-fived Lissa as he disappeared into our bedroom.

"You're so mean to him, Rose."

"I blame you. I only wind him up when you're around, so it's your fault. You're a bad influence on me. "

Lissa snorted in a very un-Queenly way. "We both know that's not true. You're the bad one."

"Right, I forgot, you're the angel. That's why you fell for the 'bad boy'. Though Christian is admittedly a pathetic excuse for one." In all fairness, Christian could be pretty badass when he wanted to be. I'd never admit it, though.

"What does that make Dimitri? The good boy? I think he's too tough for that."

Good question. "Nah, he can be bad." I winked. "But I think he'll always be a bit of a mommy's boy." That reminded me, "speaking of, I have to Skype Russia. Are you staying?"

Lissa nodded. "I need to liaise with my overseas counterpart and see how the decorations are doing."

I left her babbling on about ribbons as I went to grab my laptop and phone. First I pinged off a text to Vika to tell her to get her ass over to a computer, then I set up the Skype connection.

A minute later, the image of a familiar room appeared on the screen, followed by Viktoria's face.

"Hey Roza!"

"Hiya," I relied. "How are you all?"

"Great! Alicia took her first steps yesterday!" Lissa awwed beside me. "Oh, hi Lissa! How's the planning going?" She asked, immediately switching subjects.

"They needed a well-placed kick up the behind, but they've started to actually take everything seriously now."

I pulled a face at that, showing how not-serious I could be.

"That's what sisters are for," Viktoria said, and I knew that if we were still bonded I would have felt Lissa's joy at being acknowledged as my sister like Vika was to Dimitri.

"Alright, if you're done bitching about us, then can we get on with the planning that I was allegedly trying to avoid?" I asked. They both looked sufficiently guilty for me to know they would stay quiet and let me talk. "So, Vika, my dress fitting is next week, and we wanted to get the bridesmaids' dresses done then as well. If I can get Abe's jet, will you be able to come to Court?"

On the screen, Viktoria's image went blurry as she bounced around in her seat. "Yes, definitely! I can finally see Court!"

I smiled at her excitement. "Do you think your mom could come too?"

Viktoria turned away from the screen, yelling something in the general direction of the doorway. Lissa moved away from me a little so that I was the only one in the camera's field of vision. A moment later, Olena appeared.

"Hello Roza! How are you _dorogaya_?"

I smiled at her calling me _sweetheart. _"Great, Olena. Perfect. We've finally made a start on the wedding planning, and Dimitri and I were wondering if you and Vika would be able to come to Court next week? I'm going dress shopping, and it would mean so much to me if you would be there." I felt a little self-conscious at saying that. "I'm sure that my mom's never worn a dress in her life, and I need someone who will have an opinion." I joked.

Olena smiled. "Of course I'll be there. After all you've told me, I'm looking forward to meeting your mother. She sounds like an amazing woman."

I pretended to consider that. "Mm, she's alright. I've been trying to teach her social skills, so hopefully you'll get a good conversation out of her."

"Roza, your own social skills are hardly stellar. Teaching other people may be a little hypocritical."

"Well, they worked on you!" I turned to glare at the newcomer to the conversation, but it fell short when I saw Dimitri standing there in just a towel. Amusement danced in his eyes as he spotted my reaction before he leaned down to kiss me.

"Dimka, put some clothes on and get a room!" Viktoria complained. Breaking away from me, Dimitri turned to look at the screen.

"I do have a room- nobody's asking you to look." With that he spun the laptop around so the webcam was facing the kitchen wall before kissing me again.

"Manners indeed," I heard Viktoria mutter as Olena laughed good-naturedly.

"Well, we know when we're not wanted. Just tell us what we need to do to apply for guest housing, and we'll let you go."

This time it was me who pulled away, giving Dimitri a gentle shove so we were a respectful distance apart before turning the laptop back around again.

"There's no need for that, Olena. Guest housing is horrible and the palace has loads of free rooms,"

"Or you could even stay in our guest room, if you were worried about asking Lissa. But she'd be-"

"Really happy to help you out."

Olena looked unsure. "I couldn't impose on you two like that, or ask for special treatment from the Queen."

"She really won't mind," I assured her. "I'll show you."

Turning away from the screen, I hollered across the apartment to where Lissa was now going through the wedding scrapbook on the coffee table. "Lissa! Can Olena and Viktoria stay in palace housing when they visit next week?"

"Of course!" She shouted back, before coming over to us. She dropped down so that her head was almost resting on mine and Dimitri's shoulders. "Hi!"

Viktoria waved back, but Olena looked shocked for an instant before bowing her head. "Your majesty, it's my pleasure to make your acquaintance. But really, I could never ask-"

"You didn't ask," Lissa told her, "we offered. And please, call me Lissa. Rose is a sister to me, which makes Dimitri almost my brother-especially after the wedding- which means that you're practically family too. Please accept our offer."

Olena looked a little stunned at being called family by the Moroi Queen.

"Wait until you meet the rest of my family. They get weirder."

* * *

It was after some 'honeymoon practice' that Dimitri and I went into the shared dining room for dinner-courtesy of Christian- and were greeted by a smirking chef.

"Had fun kids?"

"Yep," I chirped as I sat down. "But from your mildly disguised expression your already knew that."

"Honestly, with the noise you were making, is it surprising?"

Dimitri looked slightly embarrassed, as usual. Maybe once we were married he'd get over his 18th century censorship issue.

"Well, if you could hear us working up an appetite, why isn't the food on the table already?"

Christian glared before shuffling off into the kitchen, sparing Dimitri from any further embarrassment. Mission accomplished.

Lissa just watched our exchange with an amused smile. Something about her expression reminded me of what I had been meaning to talk to Dimitri about.

"Comrade, it's less than the Dictator's set number of weeks until the wedding, so we can book time off for the honeymoon." Hans' stupid rules made it so that we hadn't been able to time off beyond the 4 nights we'd said were essential to spent in Russia around the wedding. It would be a wonder if there was any places left at this late notice. "Do you have any ideas on where to go?"

He covered my hand with his just as Christian came in carrying the food. "I don't mind; as long as I'm with you."

Christian made a fake gagging noise which I ignored. "That's sweet, comrade, but not exactly helpful." I then extricated my hand to grab my fork and dig into dinner.

"Somewhere sunny," Dimitri elaborated. "Somewhere warm."

I nodded to confirm his choice whilst I swallowed. "That's something we agree on. I don't mind where, as long as there's a secluded beach and the people can speak English. Oh, and there's normal food available," I added.

Everyone laughed.

"Didn't you always want to go to Hawaii?" Dimitri asked.

I nodded. "Or the Caribbean, either is great." I frowned. "Well, aside from it being hurricane season, that is. But the locals stay there, and we might actually be able to afford it that way."

The subject of cost brought us both down a bit. Whilst our salaries weren't terrible and the apartment was included in mine, the utility prices were high and we had insisted for paying for half the wedding ourselves. Abe had wanted to be all traditional, but I'd insisted that I was a 21st century woman and didn't need the modern equivalent of a dowry for Dimitri to marry me. He'd kicked up a fuss, but had eventually settled down when we promised he could show off his generosity by ferrying guests out on his private jet.

Suddenly, Lissa put her cutlery down and say up straighter. "Hey, I have an idea. You two don't have any clue of what to ask for as wedding gifts, do you?"

Dimitri replied 'no' whilst I said 'food', just to be annoying. Lissa ignored me.

"Well, let Christian and I pay for it wherever you decide to go, and other people can buy things for when you're there; like dinners, cocktails, activities- that way they're spending their money on practical things and you won't have to worry about the cost!"

I pointed my knife at her. "And that, Lissa, is why you're Queen. It's a great idea for everyone else, but we-"

"Couldn't ask you to pay that much," Dimitri finished.

Lissa and Christian rolled their eyes in unison. "Seriously, money is not an issue. Tatiana made lots of good investments on behalf of the Throne, and we barely made a dent in my inheritance money, even with me giving Jill half of the Dragomir estate. You know my parents would have contributed to your wedding Rose."

I began to protest again, but Christian cut me off. "Please, let me have this opportunity to make use of the Ozera fortune on something other than the shallow bullshit my family normally use it for," he begged. "I'd love to see Esmond's face when he sees what the withdrawal from the family account went towards."

I turned to Dimitri. "Well, if they want to give away their money, then it's their choice. Plus, Esmond's face _would_ be hilarious."

Dimitri looked at Lissa and Christian. "Only if you're absolutely sure."

She nodded enthusiastically. "It's the least we can do after everything you've done for us. When do you want to start looking for somewhere to go?"

I shrugged, checking with Dimitri quickly. "Go for the Caribbean, but beyond than that, surprise us."

Lissa clapped her hands in excitement, looking like some weird, overly flamboyant sea lion. Christian looked like he couldn't decide if it was cute or irritating. Since it was Lissa, though, he probably decided on the former.

"Remember Liss, you have to consider all the time they'll be spending in bed; so don't go too crazy thinking of activities."

"For once, I agree with the man. Don't get so hooked on making us do stupid things like bungee jumping that we don't have time for sunbathing and sex. Make sure you set aside at least three hours a day just for that last one."

"Five" We all turned to stare at Dimitri incredulously. "What? That includes recovery time between rounds."

"I'm proud of you, comrade."

He smiled wryly. "Not like it's any worse than what's already been said."

And just like that, progress was made.

Perhaps we could get through the speeches after all.

* * *

**I know it ended kind of abruptly but I spent like half an hour trying to think of a better ending. I'm still getting back into the swing of writing ALS after my exam hiatus, but fortunately the chapter I've been writing at the moment is better. There'll be a DPOV coming soon, and as I break up from college next week, hopefully I'll have more time to properly write, not just using the notes app on my phone whilst on the train :) **

**Review and Dimitri will up your 'hours' ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, I said it would be up by the end of the week, and it's 11:00 Sunday. Score. This is a really long chapter, and totally not the chapter that was originally supposed to be chapter 3. ****Chapter 3 is now chapter 5.**** Go figure. Still, that mean that this story will have 2 more chapters in total :)  
My summer holidays have started now, so in theory I will have more time to write. We'll see...  
**

**This chapter is a little angsty, but gets fluffier towards the end :) Enjoy! **

**Oh, and please check out the VA movie facebook/twitter page to see info about getting a Frostbite movie. It needs the entire VAfamily's support! **

* * *

**RPOV**

I slowed to a walk, hitting a button on my watch to clock the time of my run. The heat was getting to be a little oppressive to run anyway, so I was glad for the interruption.

"Hi Merri, how are you? I haven't seen you around much lately."

She smiled, and once again I was so glad that she'd forgiven me for the whole knocking-out thing; and not just the time at Court. Meredith seemed to have a magnetic force pulling her face towards my fist.

"You're the one who's always off doing something interesting. Gate duty's been boring without you to insult everyone that drives through. I've had to partner up with Shane instead."

I looked at her knowingly. "Because I'm sure that's such a hardship for you."

She blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah right," I snorted, but let it drop. "Was there something you wanted, or did you just come to save me from heatstroke?"

Meredith pulled an envelope out of her blazer pocket. How she was coping with her coat on in this weather was beyond me. "I wanted to RSVP your wedding invite."

I took the paper eagerly. "Can you make it? I know that it's a lot to ask for you to come to Russia, but my dad's giving us the jet..." I trailed off, realising I was rambling a little.

"Of course I'll be there. Us St. Vlads girls stick together, right? Plus, maybe I can pick up a hot Russian of my own," she said with a wink.

"Or maybe Shane told you that he RSVPd yesterday?" I knew it was mean, but I couldn't help myself. They'd made the mutual decision to split up after graduation, not wanting their relationship to get in the way of their duty. However, I believed that after seeing Dimitri and I make it work, Meredith was hoping to get back with him.

Right now, however, she didn't want to admit it, instead changing the subject. "So how's the planning been going?"

"Pretty good actually. Lissa's been nagging us to get the details sorted, and I actually have dress shopping booked for next week."

"Oh, that's exciting!" Meredith had a gift for making everything sound sincere, and you could tell she truly meant it.

"Actually, now that you're here, I was wondering if you'd be around to sub in as a near guard next Thursday? I'll be trying dresses on so can hardly fight properly, and I really don't want some random guy being there. It would actually mean a lot if you would be there at the fitting."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, I'll check with Hans. Who else were you thinking of bringing?"

"My mom will be the other official near, but Dimitri's sister is a Guardian as well. I was thinking Serena for mid-far, and whoever else if free beyond that." Since Lissa was Queen, she didn't just have Near and fFr guards, but mid guards as well to act as a liaison, meaning that the Fars could expand the perimeter.

"How's everything with your mom?" Meredith asked as we headed back to the gym. "I know you've had some rough patches, but you seemed to have sorted things out now. Has she been involved in the planning at all?"

Suddenly, that niggling feeling that had been resting in my guy grew stronger as its cause was identified.

Since I had been preoccupied and she had hardly been around in other important times during my life, my mom's recent absence from the planning process hadn't really registered with me. Now, however, I realised that we'd barely had more than one short conversation about my upcoming wedding.

Hoping Meredith hadn't noticed my momentary lapse, I covered my doubt with a joke. "Well, since she hasn't punched me in the face, I'd say it's going well."

She laughed, and I relaxed. Honestly, I'd been hiding my mom-related insecurities with wit for most of my life; there was no reason for them to have stopped working just because I had stopped hating her.

We reached the gym, and split off into different shower cubicles. "I'll put you on the confirmed list, then. I'll chase the others for their replies because we need final numbers before Dimitri's mom comes next week."

"Are you afraid there won't be enough food?" Meredith teased.

"The opposite- I'm worried we'll be drowning in it!"

Dimitri looked up as I entered the HQ, a small smile appearing when he saw it was me. Meredith said something that sounded suspiciously like 'so cute' before heading over to her own desk on the other side of the room.

Dimitri and I had originally been separated as much as possible, but I'd slowly been stealing my way across the room one desk at a time, either begging, brining or threatening people to give up their seat. When Hans had finally noticed, Dimitri and I had been 2 desks apart, and he hadn't wanted to admit there was a problem by making a scene and moving us away.

Our eyes met I allowed my arm to brush against his as I walked past- our usual greeting when we were on duty and were supposed to act professional. Sometimes we broke protocol a little, but we'd agreed to be on our best behaviour until the wedding to make up for the time we were having off.

The Dimitri-induced happiness faded a little as I took in the huge stack of paperwork on my desk that had to be completed before my active shift after lunch.

* * *

2 hours later I finished the last report. During all our training, they'd never mentioned just how inescapable paperwork was for a Guardian. Working at Court and being the head of the Queen's guard tripled that amount. I loved my job, but sometimes it sucked.)))))

Finally, I was free. I'd sat through Lissa's board meeting and completed my shift on ward duty. As I went back into HQ, I was surprised to see Dimitri back at his desk. I'd seen him walking around with Christian, and his shift was supposed to finish after that. Hopping up to sit on the edge of his desk, I reached over and stole his pen.

"Hey comrade, what are you doing back here?"

He looked up from the form he had been diligently filling in, handwriting so neat it was barely discernible from the printed text above it. If I didn't love him, I'd hate him for his ability to do everything so perfectly.

"I said I'd do Mikhail's paperwork so he could leave early to go and see Sonya. Didn't you get my text?"

Rolling my eyes, I got my phone out of my pocket to see a message waiting in the screen.

_**Covering Mikhail's shift, won't be off til 7 x **_

"Oh yeah, I did. Guess I forgot to take it off silent this morning."

"You probably haven't got your pager, either, have you?"

"Not really." He got that mildly irritated look, but since he probably felt guilty about not coming home straight away didn't bother to give me a lecture. "Actually, I'll get my mom over to catch her up on the latest plans." I frowned.

"What's that look for?"

"Nothing. I mean, does she actually know anything? She's been so busy lately that she hasn't even seen the friggin' scrapbook."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. "The scrapbook you think is stupid?"

"It is stupid, and it's also full of Lissa's ridiculous ideas for dresses that cost more than our yearly salaries combines. But my mom should have been the first one to point out how stupidly frivolous everything is." I pouted.

Dimitri smiled, resting his hand on my knee. "Your mom only left about 20 minutes ago, so she probably won't be busy right now. Show her the 'stupid scrapbook'.

Barely sparing a glance around the room to see if anyone was looking, I leaned down and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I will. S'later comrade."

With that I slid off the desk and grabbed the bag I had originally come here to get before skipping out of the building.

On my way back to the palace, I called my mom.

"Hey, can you come over?"

"Why?" Was her abrupt reply. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Dimitri's working late, so that means microwave dinner and reality TV without disapproving looks."

She paused. "I'll be over in a minute."

I ended the call, chuckling to myself as I did so.

In the week after my shooting, before I'd been allowed back on active duty, my mom had come to 'babysit' me one day, much to my protests. So much for not coddling me. Still, my tactic for getting rid of her (watching Jeremy Kyle) had actually resulted in the two of us sitting on the couch and eating popcorn. Turns out that the dysfunctional families on there had made our own relationship look normal, and we'd bonded through that. When Dimitri come home with Abe in tow, however, they'd been too stunned to speak by our mutual disparaging of the girl who'd gotten pregnant by one of three brothers whilst she'd been dating a completely different guy. Since then, watching it with either of the men in the room had resulted in teasing comments, so we only watched it when we knew that nobody would be there to judge us (or spread the rumour around Court like Abe had joked).

When mom got to our apartment, she had that expression of mild self-loathing that she always did before one of these junk-food-and-worse-TV binges.

Putting a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table for her- low calorie, unsweetened, low salt- I sat down with my own bowl of full fat, caramel covered popcorn.

"We have another half hour before it airs," I informed mom as she took her place beside me. "Do you want to see how the wedding's going? I need to have the food set before Olena comes next week, and want to choose flowers. I've already left it really late, but Karolina's friend's mom is a florist, so it should be fine."

Mom frowned. "Isn't there an episode recorded?"

I blinked. "Um, no." It was like she hadn't heard anything past the first sentence. "But maybe we could go over flowers for a bit? Lissa's insisting that there have to be some roses, but I'm not sure. Is it weirder to have them or not to-"

To my astonishment, mom got her phone out and focussed on the screen rather than me. She tapped out a message before putting it back on the table. "I'm sorry Rose, something's come up. Rain check?"

I couldn't answer, stunned at her complete dismissal of what I was saying.

"I'll just grab a drink of water if you don't mind, then I have to run."

She disappeared into the kitchen, and after a few moments of allowing the shock to wear off I reached out and grabbed her phone off the table.

Typing in the password I'd seen her use a moment ago, I was glad for the Guardian observational skills the Academy had drummed into me from an early age.

Opening up the messages, I wanted to see what was so urgent that my mom had been forced to bail.

Abe's text conversation came up, but the last one he's sent to her was this early morning asking 'where his Guardian had gone'. No way did I want to scroll up any further- that text that early in the morning could only mean one thing, and I didn't want to think about it.

Instead I focussed on the most recent text that my mom had sent.

My blood boiled.

**_Called off plans with Rose, will be over earlier than expected. Will let myself in._**

There was no emergency, and from that text it didn't even sound like she had anything better to do. Sitting in Abe's empty apartment rather than here with me?

I didn't bother to put the phone back on the table when my mom came out of the kitchen. When she saw me she came to a halt, face becoming blank as she took in both my expression and the phone in my hand.

"Don't stop on my account," I said, "you wouldn't want to be late to your very important date with an empty room."

"You looked at my messages."

"You lied to me!" I couldn't believe that she was still doing that pretending-not-to-hear-me thing. "If you had something better to do then why did you say you could come over?"

"I wanted to spend time with you-"

"So much so that you're pissing off after 5 minutes!"

She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry that I'm leaving Rose, but I think you're overreacting a little."

"Well I don't think I am. It's taken me a while to realise it because you've been so clever about it, but it seems like every time I mention the wedding something else more important just 'comes up'. That's if you're speaking to me at all. Yeah, I've noticed how you've been avoiding Dimitri and I lately."

Mom looked outraged now, her face beginning to take on the colour of her hair. Something told me, though, that perhaps embarrassment at being caught was adding to the effect. "You're being utterly ridiculous Rosemarie, and-"

"Don't call me Rosemarie," I snapped. "It makes me feel like I'm five."

"Well, you're acting like you are."

"You know, maybe I'll drop 'Marie' when I add Belikov to my name. That should make tax returns easier." That was a little cruel, I knew, but I wasn't expecting to see such deep hurt flash in my mother's eyes. I should have stopped there, but I was too hot and stressed and angry and I just wanted to get an answer. "That's why, isn't it? You're jealous!"

"Don't be absurd. Why would I be jealous?" She looked ready to snap at any moment, so like that time in the gym, I kept pushing.

"You're upset because you screwed up your own relationship with Abe and with me, and now you don't want to watch me be happy." What I really wanted was for her to deny this and start taking an interest.

It didn't work like that.

She snapped. Shooting up out of her seat, my mother stalked forwards so that she was standing in front of me, anger making her seem a few inches taller. "No, I can just see clearly. You're a child, Rose, and you can play house and plan weddings with Belikov all you like, but eventually you're both going to realise that you're living in a fantasy world. The illusion will fade." Each word was like a slap in the face, the last one worse than the rest. "This whole thing is rushed and based on a split second decision. After I overcame my initial misgivings, I was happy for you when you announced your engagement, but now I fear that I was right at the beginning. You're just too young Rose; you haven't had time to live your own life and you're already tying yourself to someone else."

Her voice had dropped back to a normal level, and though the words had become sympathetic sounding, her time was still harsh. "You're nineteen; you don't know what you're going to want five, ten years down the line. The same goes for Dimitri as well. All of this will just make it harder when the relationship eventually ends because reality breaks up your daydream."

I would not cry in front of my mother. I would not let her see how much she'd hurt me. That had been my mantra when, on my 10th birthday, she'd never arrived at the Academy to see me like she promised. I'd held back the tears, sworn an oath to hate my mother forever, then gone to eat the biscuit-cake Lissa had hastily made me whilst acting like my heart wasn't broken over my mother' slack of love.

I thought we were above such things, but apparently I had been wrong.

"Get out," I whispered.

Mom looked taken aback. "What-"

"Get out of my home!" I shouted. "If I'm just playing house, then that's fine, because I get to make the rules. Leave me in peace to live out whatever time I have left in my 'fantasy world', because guess what. You're not a part of that!"

I could see my words stung as we stood face-to-face in a heated standoff, our two sets of matching eyes locked in something not unlike a staring contest.

Without warning my mom turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, grabbing her jacket and slamming the door on her way out.

I couldn't believe what she'd said. Yes, any other mother might have the right to tell their ordinary daughter that she didn't know what she wanted at nineteen. But I wasn't ordinary. I'd begun training for my career when I was three years old; was sworn to protect at the cost of my own life. I'd seen loved ones die for that same cause and had travelled the world and broken laws just to have a chance at getting back what I undoubtedly knew I wanted. Dimitri and I weren't living in a fantasy world- we knew that either one of us could die any day and the other wouldn't be able to do anything as our duty to our charges had to come first.

My anger began to dissipate at that sobering thought, and I wondered how another Guardian couldn't understand that, and if my own mother couldn't support this, then the worst was still to come.

I dropped heavily onto the sofa, covering my face with my hands. As well as being a commitment to each other, marriage was supposed to be a way to show the world that devotion. But all we would get for it would be more incredulous stares, gossip and comments about how we were neglecting our duties. I wasn't blind tho these things, or the sacrifices Dimitri and I were both making by committing ourselves to being with another Dhampir- a Guardian no less- and I was truly offended that my mom believed I didn't know this.

And yes, I was a teenage girl getting married in 3 weeks time. A large part of me just wanted my mother to be happy for me and support me.

I cried. I cried for the things I was forcing Dimitri to give up, I cried for the things I had to sacrifice, I cried because either of us could die and leave the other alone, I cried because my mother was a bitch, I cried because a part of me was still a wounded little girl who felt abandoned by her parents, and I cried because the invite paper had been off-white and not Ivory. I cried because our guest list should have been twice as long as it was; there were people that would have been happy and supported us that couldn't attend as their lives had been snuffed out too soon. I cried because I'd broken my vow never to cry over my mother again.

The door opened behind me and I shot up, ready to dart into my bedroom in case it was Lissa. I couldn't let her see me cry.

"My shift finished early," Dimitri said from the hallway. I turned, instinctively following the voice that was the only sound able to reach me in my darkest moments. "Rose, why was your..."

When he saw me, puffy-eyed with a tear-streaked face, he only paused for a moment before doubling his speed.

"Roza?"

**DPOV**

In the end, it didn't take as long as I had expected for me to finish Mikhail's paperwork. Sonya had been feeling down for a few days, suffering from the effects of Spirit, and I had a feeling that had been affecting Mikhail's concentration at work. As a result, something that should have taken an hour had taken three.  
I knew only too well how that felt, which was why I had offered to help. Though I knew Rose often felt frustrated that she could no longer take the darkness from Lissa, I was glad. When Lissa hadn't had to cope with the darkness, she'd been flippant about using magic and it had taken its toll on Rose. Now that she had stopped and Rose was free, both of them were safe. Rose was safe.

As I drew closer to the palace building, I watched as a petite redhead threw the door open and stalked off down the path running parallel to the building, barely sparing a glance in my direction. I sighed, realising I'd probably have to listen to Rose ranting about the latest fight with her mother. Those two had a singular ability to make the other angry. I'd long since learned that reminding Rose that the only reason they clashed was because they were so alike was not a good idea. Better just to let her rant and get it out of her system.

I nodded to the Guardian on duty on the stairwell as I headed for our apartment. After I opened the door I threw my keys in the glass bowl on the side, the noise momentarily distracting me from other sounds.

"My shift finished early," I called. "Rose, why was your..."

Turning the corner, my blood ran cold as I took in the sight before me. Rose's eyes were red-rimmed and tear drops clung to her cheeks. My chest constricted at her heartbroken expression. "Roza?" I asked as I hurried to her side. She lifted her arms slightly, reminding me of a child that wanted to be picked up. I responded immediately, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Roza, are you alright?" I asked, needing to have that confirmed before anything else. She seemed fine physically, but you with Rose you could never be sure. She was so brave, so strong that she'd barely acknowledge her own pain, let alone allowing anyone else to see it. "Roza?"

She nodded against my chest, squeezing me a little tighter for a moment to let me know that she was okay. Now that I knew she was safe, I relaxed a little, running a hand over her hair.

"What happened, Roza?" I asked gently after a little while of just standing in silence. "Is it about your mother?"

Rose stiffened for a second before nodding again. In my mind, I cursed Janine for causing Roza this pain. What could she have said that was bad enough to get this reaction?  
I shifted Rose in my arms so that I could pick her up, and carried her over the couch. Sitting down, I placed her in my lap and let her keep crying into my shirt. The move had caused her to try and get things together; now the shaking of her shoulders was irregular, as though she was trying to hold in her sobs. I rubbed her back soothingly, feeling her relax with each circle my hand made.

It wasn't long before she stopped crying altogether, a quiet sniffle signalling that it was safe to talk to her again.

"What happened?" I asked again. I felt Rose's fingers begin to play with the fabric at the back of my shirt, something she did when she was nervous or unsure of herself.

"She lied to me," she sniffed. "She said that she had to leave so that she didn't have to stay and hear about the wedding. She thinks that we're deluding ourselves and making this huge mistake which is going to end up ruining my life."

The words came out before I could stop them. "Do you think she's right?"

"What?" She sat up and leaned back, hands braced against my chest. "No, of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that. It's just that I knew you originally wanted to wait until you were at least 20 to get married, but I proposed anyway. I don't want you to feel rushed into anything you're not ready for..." Her expression clearly said _shut up you idiot, _so I trailed off and let her speak.

Rose rested a hand on my cheek, eyes meeting mine in that way that made it feel as though she was looking right into my soul. Thanks to her, there was still a soul to find.  
"Dimitri, you're all I need. I stand by what I said before about not needing a marriage certificate to prove our love, but I realised that having one isn't the same as _needing_ one. I'm spending the rest of my life with you whether you and the rest of the world likes it or not, so why not? Plus," she added with a grin, "I'd like to show people that I am actually capable of following law and convention, but marriage to you is the only legally binding contract I could actually put up with."

"So you're marrying me to prove a point?" I laughed.

"Yep. People always say that a marriage shouldn't be built on the basis of the groom having killer abs alone."

I kissed her, glad that she wasn't so upset anymore. There was still something, though, that self-depreciating edge to her jokes that told me she wasn't quite over her insecurities.

Breaking the kiss, I looked at her expectantly. I didn't want to push her to talk about why she was upset, but I would if I had to. Rose had spent so long bottling things up and it just wasn't good for her.

Thankfully, she relented. "I can't get anything past you, can I?"

I shook my head, smiling.

"Soul mates suck," she muttered as she shifted into a move comfortable position, leaning her head against my shoulder. She was silent for a moment as she contemplated what to say. "I'm just upset because I thought we were past all this. I know that we'll probably never see eye to eye, but I really thought that she'd be happy for me- for_ us_. She knows what we've been through, and I just hoped she'd be supportive." I held her tighter. "After the initial 'are you sure?' when we got engaged, she seemed to get the whole thing."

"I'm so sorry, Roza." I said. "I wish that you could share this with your mother. I can't understand what she's thinking."

"Me neither. After all, she said that she wanted to get to know me better and be a part of my life, and what better way is there for a mother and daughter to bond than by talking about dresses and flowers? She obviously likes plants- well, that or she really hated me as a baby. Probably that one, actually, since she couldn't even spell 'rosemary' properly. Stupid name."

It seemed like she'd had enough of baring her feelings now, so I went with the subject change.

"So I guess that means that _Rose-Marie_ is off the wedding playlist then?"

Rose looked horrified. "You play that song, and we won't be needing a honeymoon." She sounded so serious that I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, sweet Rose Marie-" I began to sing, causing her to punch me in the arm. I broke off with a laugh and Rose rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe you actually know that song- and the words! You're such a dork."

"I thought you'd realised that a long time ago," I said with a smirk.

"I did; right around the time you quoted every single one of John Wayne's lines during '_he wore a star'. _

I hadn't known that she had realised that.

"Did you really think that you could get away with talking all the way through the movie whilst I was practically lying on top of you?" she asked, amused.

I shrugged, a little self-conscious. "I figured that you'd tell me to shut up if I was loud enough to hear."

"I thought it was cute," she teased. "I'd rather listen to you than the actual movie anyway." Rose's stomach growling stopped me from making any further comment. "I don't suppose the fridge has magically stocked itself in the last 24 hours and we now have food for dinner?"

"I shouldn't think so." She pouted, and I couldn't resist the urge to kiss her briefly. "I think," I said against her lips, "that pizza is on order tonight."

She pulled back immediately, the smile that immediately lit up her face causing a warmth to spread outwards from my chest.

"Double cheese and pepperoni?" She asked hopefully.

I nodded. "Stuffed crust too?" It always seemed to be as though Rose was on a mission to see just how good her Dhampir metabolism was.

"Well duh!"

"Alright then," I patted her leg where it was draped over my own to get her to stand up, missing the contact when she did so. "You go and choose a movie, I'll call for pizza."

"You're the best, Comrade."

As Rose darted off to pick a film, it seemed as though she'd completely forgotten about the fight she'd had with her mother.

It was only by observing how she took a little longer than her usual six minutes to eat her pizza, how she picked_ Mulan _- a film that only came out on bad days- and how she took just a little longer to fall asleep that night that I could see how she was still bothered by Janine's words.

I tucked the sheets closer around Rose's body, holding her tighter as though my arms would be enough to protect her from any of the sadness and pain she would have to face in her life. I'd sworn to spend the rest of my life trying to make her as happy as she made me, and that meant that tomorrow I had a job to do- a job that was almost as frightening as facing down a pack of Strigoi.

* * *

**What's Dimitri got up his sleeve? What is Rose going to do? What is making Janine act like such a biatch? Find out next time ;P **

**Review and Dimitri will come and deliver a pizza of your choice! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, if you don't already know, then the crowd funding campaign for Frostbite is starting tomorrow on Indiegogo! Look there or facebook or twitter oe anywhere on the internet to find out more info, and let's bring Eddie and Adrian and Janine to life! ;D **

**Until then, time to fix those mother/daughter conflicts. I hope I managed to do this justice. Either way, it's a huge chapter- 6000 words without A/Ns. Enjoy :) **

* * *

24th May - 28 days to go until wedding.

Luck was on my side the next morning, because on leaving ward duty I practically ran into Janine leaving the gym. The fact that she appeared to be tired from an intensive workout was also in my favour, as though it wouldn't improve her mood, it might keep her from killing me.

"Janine, have you got a minute?" The look on her face was the same one that appeared on Rose's whenever she was about to try and lie to me. "I saw that you've got a break before your shift starts."

Her expression of being caught red-handed was tempered by the annoyance she clearly felt at my preventing any escape.

"A minute, yes. I'm very busy at the moment."

"Yes, Rose told me."

Janine turned on her heel, heading back towards the gym building.

"I have a feeling I know where this is going, and I'd much rather have this discussion in private. It's nobody else's business," she glared at the Guardian who was loitering, causing him to duck his head and hurry off. "Quite frankly, it's not your business either."

My self control snapped."It is, actually. Rose and I are getting married, whether you can accept that or not, and that means that everything that concerns her, legally concerns me. Regardless of that, I promised a long time ago that I'd do everything in my power to keep her from being hurt. That promise stands whatever of the status of our relationship, and includes protecting her from everything, even you."

Janine was stunned.

"Rose really does want you in her life, but it's difficult for her to open up and risk disappointment. She's let herself trust you again, but if you keep pushing her away like this then she'll push back harder, and you'll lose her for good."

I'd almost made that same mistake, and it had cost us both precious time and Mason's life. Rose's own and many others may have been lost had she not opened up to me about the darkness and the ghosts. Rose had built her walls after being abandoned as a child by her mother, and I hated to think what could happen now if Janine walked away again. I had no doubt that Rose would act like nothing was wrong, and would roll with the change to become even tougher, but Janine's dismissal was a blow to her psyche. I knew better than most the immense power parents held over their children, even after they grew up. I'd probably never truly get over witnessing what my father did to my mother, and what I did to him after that, but being Rose allowed me to make peace with my demons. I'd never be able to repay for her the service she did me every day in bringing me that peace and love; the least I could do was shield her from more pain at the hands of her mother.

Janine had been silent for a while as she thought over what I had said. All traces of anger had gone from her face now; replaced by a look of regret.

"I don't want to lose her," Janine said quietly. "That's the last thing I want. I just got her back. Losing her was what I was trying to avoid."

The last sentence was barely more than a whisper, but it was enough to make the pieces fall into place. Though I couldn't quite comprehend the logic of her attack on Rose, I could at least understand her motivations for it.

It's said that one often meets their destiny on the path one takes to avoid it, and in Janine's case, the same was true for the realisation of her greatest fear.

"Talk to her," I said. Though I was still angry at Janine for the things she had insinuated and the pain she had caused Rose, I knew that the time to tell her so was past. "Explain why you said what you said, and let her talk as well. I think you both want the same thing, but lack of communication is keeping it from happening."

"Will she forgive me enough to actually let me talk?" Some of the signature Hathaway defiance had crept back into her voice, but it showed just how little Janine really knew her daughter if she had to ask that question.

"Start with an apology, and she'll listen. Rose has the most amazing capacity for forgiveness."

I left Janine to then, giving my parting words a chance to sink in as I headed to the front had to report for duty. Rose was near-guarding Lissa this afternoon, but I knew the Queen had plans to spend the 3-hour shift shopping online for clothes. Lissa had informed us that she'd booked the accommodation and flights for our honeymoon, but that she wouldn't give us exact details on where we were going until just before we left the States for Russia. She'd wanted to keep it a secret until the wedding, but had been shot down by Rose's impatience and my own pointing out that we needed to know before so that we left so we could pack accordingly.

Rose had been trying to access the online gift register that Lissa had created to for the honeymoon 'extras', but hadn't succeeded. Despite her best attempts at hacking the system- which meant typing every possible variation of all Lissa's passwords over the years- she'd only succeeded in making her laptop crash. She was insisting that Christian must have set the password, and that his mind was strange for her to get into.

Something told me that Janine wouldn't go straight to talk to Rose, so hopefully she'd get to spend some time with Lissa before facing her mother. Rose hadn't wanted to be unprofessional by spending her guardian shift shopping, but Lissa had assured her that nobody would know, and that making sure that she had more than one swimsuit for the our honeymoon was more important that protocol.

My mind began to wander towards thoughts of Rose stretched out on a white beach, skin warm and glowing as she basked in the sunlight, smiling as-

"Belikov!"

I snapped out of my daydream as the Guardian I was relieving greeted me, and forced my mind to focus on the task at hand.

* * *

**RPOV**

"For crying out loud Rose, come and sit down!"

Lissa was getting exasperated because I wouldn't leave my post to go and internet shop with her.

"I'm sorry, your highness, but that would be unprofessional."

Lissa let out what was probably supposed to be a growl of annoyance, but sounded more like noise a kitten made when jostled in sleep. "When have you ever cared about being professional? There's nobody else even here- not even Guardians can see through walls!"

"Bikini shopping isn't worth your grisly death, your-"

"Call me 'your majesty' once more, and it won't be my grisly death you have to worry about!" When she wanted, Lissa could actually be quite frightening. I pitied any Royals that stood in her way with their petty oppositions to her ideas. "As Queen, I hereby relinquish you of your Guardian duties for the rest of the afternoon. Now, come over here before I have to order you to do it."

Pushing off from the wall, I rolled my eyes. "Alright Queenie, don't get your tiara in a twist."

"I'm a Spirit user, Queen of the Moroi, your maid of honour, and pregnant to top it all off. Antagonising me isn't wise."

"Well, I'm not wise. Except for when I'm making wisecracks, that is." I said as squeezed myself into the same seat as Lissa. It was big enough for two Moroi, but my hips hade it a bit of a squeeze. Thankfully Lissa didn't have a bump yet, or we'd never fit.

Lissa closed her current browser window that was displaying a pair of particularly shiny gold heels.

"There is no way that they were for me," I teased. "Is Court's shoe selection not quite up to Target's standards?"

Lissa blushed. "They're on clearance."

"Now that would show those Royals. Who knows- work by the Queen, Targét could become the next Stella McCartney."

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Now you're just being silly."

"You love me for it." I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, smushing my face against her cheek.

She tried to pull away, but was giggling anyway. "Save that for Dimitri. We need to shop!"

"Without the effort of leaving the room!" My gaze strayed to the kitchen, "and free food in close proximity."

Lissa ignored my food comment. "One of the many things that makes Court so much better than St. Vlads- unrestricted access to Internet shopping."

"Beats living in thrift store clothes, anyway."

"Why Rose, are you saying that you were actually bothered by the clothes we had to wear? I thought you said you were 'sexy enough to rock it anyway'."

"Of course I am," I said with mock indignance. "Forgive me for not wanting to wear clothes that people have died in. I've done that enough in my own clothes."

Lissa grimaced. "You were unconscious at the time though."

"Still wore them; whether or not I was awake to be grossed out by it."

She shook her head, a mixture of exasperation and trying to clear images of a bloody and twisted me from it. "Can we stop talking about the times you've died and focus on buying pretty new things?"

"Sure. But this is my honeymoon- I'm more worried about looking hot and sexy than pretty."

* * *

An hour later I was the proud owner of 4 pairs of shorts, 3 new tank tops, a beach wrap, some flip flops and sunglasses. Lissa was currently trying to convince me that I needed to buy a sundress.

"But it's so floaty!" was her great argument.

I gave her a look. "When have you ever seen me wear 'so floaty' without their being a cash benefit for it?"

She giggled. "I still can't believe Mason actually paid when you came as Princess Jasmine to that fancy dress party."

"It makes more sense in retrospect," I said sadly.

"Yeah, I guess it does. Sorry..." I remembered that Lissa had always know that his feelings for me went beyond flirtation and friendship.

Mason's death was weighing heavily on me lately, as I wished he could be there for the wedding. I turned my attention back to the screen, immediately spotting something that would allow me to change the course of the conversation without disrespect.

"There. That is my kind of sundress."

Lissa double clicked the link, and the image appeared bigger alongside a price that was surprisingly affordable.

The dress was just above knee length, white black paint splashes and purple orchids all over it. The halter neck strap dropped into a deep V, so fulfilled wishes of hotness whilst remaining cool.

"I think Dimitri will have trouble keeping the men away from you!" Lissa teased.

"Dimitri? What about me! I'll have to keep him off me as well." I sighed dramatically. "The woes of being well-endowed."

Lissa giggled again, adding the dress to basket before following a 'suggested for you' link to a dress that appeared to be made only of a wide crochet.

"They seem to have me pegged as some kind of whore," I deduced.

Lissa studied my face before responding. "You want it, don't you."

"Yes." She bought it. "As long as I wear it over a bikini, it doesn't count as slutty, right?"

"Right. Whilst we're on the subject of bikinis, we should probably look at some."

I had two currently; the red one I had worn camping and a navy one that was looking a little worse for wear. Not that I had worn it much, but the pool maintenance guy in Portland had apparently been a little over-zealous when adding chlorine to the water.

We had a laugh at some of the swimming costumes for sale, including one leopard print one with the picture of a snarling bulldog over the crotch, 'bad bitch' written across the cups.

"Is that really the message you want to be sending out?" Lissa laughed.

"Oh well. Some people complain about being labelled by the clothes they wear; anyone in this must be completely fine with that happening."

It seemed like everyone was online shopping for swimwear at the moment, as it was almost impossible to find something in the correct style, size and colour.

"This one would look gorgeous with your skin," Lissa said, clicking on a purple triangle bikini with bronze and gold studs and rhinestones on it. They had my size in stock.

"Yep, get it. I need to get a strapless one as well though so I don't get terrible tan lines."

Scrolling down the page, Lissa pointed out a black one piece. "That would definitely not be tan-line friendly."

My eyes widened as I took in the garment on the screen. "Don't care. Won't stay on long. No tan lines. Want it. Need it." I'd apparently been reduced to monosyllables.

Lissa looked at me to see if I was serious, judged that I was, then clicked on the link. The amount of fabric was much less than the amount of skin that would show, which added to the price made it a totally impractical purchase. I didn't care.

"If anyone can pull it off, it's you," Lissa said grudgingly, with a hint of jealousy. "But you still need to get something more practical as well."

The practical bikini turned out to be a peachy orange bandeau, understated and good value for money.

After checking the time on the screen, I pushed my feet against the floor and moved the chair Lissa and I were sharing away from the desk. "Right, shopping trip over- along with my shift. Do you want to come over and share some leftover pizza?"

"You mean the pizza that disappeared from my fridge this morning?"

"Um," the guilty look on my face was probably incriminating enough without me needing to say any more.

Lissa looked amused. "I'll pass, thanks. I have a proposal to review, and I want it done before Christian gets back."

It was amazing, but the guy had actually managed to find himself something resembling a full-time job in the development of defensive (and secretly offensive) magic. When not actively teaching others how to throw fireballs around, he was researching methods of killing things for both fire users and other element specialists, talking to people like Mia about collaborating in battle, and putting together everything he learned in a comprehensive report that would be the major deciding factor in whether or not defensive (and maybe offensive) magic became a curriculum requirement for all academy students and graduates.

Not bad for someone whose talents had previously not stretched beyond cooking and sarcasm.

Back in my own apartment, I was just about to reheat the pizza when there was a tentative knock at the door. Dimitri wouldn't be back for about an hour, and he wouldn't knock anyway unless he'd lost his key, so I was immediately suspicious. There was always the chance that another guardian had come to beg me to switch shifts- or, of course, that Strigoi were here. Though it was unlikely they would knock before killing me.

Gazing at my pizza longingly, I stuffed it back into the fridge before going to get the door.

What was waiting on the other side was even more malicious and twisted than a Strigoi.

"Hello mother. I'm sorry, but I'm in the middle of a pre-wedding detox which bans entering into any situations likely to make me feel angry or-"

"Stop being so melodramatic Rose," my mother sighed as she pushed past me into the apartment. I blamed my surprise that she actually had the nerve to come here again for the fact that I didn't push her right back out into the corridor. Upon a time, she'd punched me as I tried not to step outside a line. Now, she'd definitely crossed one, and I felt that I was within my rights to hit her. My fist clenched.

"I came to apologise."

That stunned me as much as any physical blow to the head. Lucky for me, sarcasm was a feature of my autopilot setting. "And what, you've since come to your senses and remembered that you don't know how?" I could see that she wanted to speak, but I didn't give her a chance. "A genuine apology requires some kind of conscience. I figured that your old Academy had trained that out of you, right along with any kind of maternal instinct."

"Rose." My last words must have stung, and I felt a flash of guilt before remembering what a bitch she'd been to me. "I really am sorry for what I said. Please let me try to explain."

She sounded so broken that gave in, just because of how strange this all was.

"Sit down," I sighed. "But if you insult me or Dimitri again, even implicitly, you're out. Understood?"

Janine was quiet for a moment, weighing up getting what she wanted and talking to me against having to hold her caustic tongue.  
She nodded mutely, going to sit down on the sofa. I headed to the kitchen, silently opening a half-empty bottle of liquor that had sat in the cupboard untouched since New Year. I took a swig before stashing it away again and chugging some juice down to hide the scent of the alcohol. I wasn't on duty for 12 hours so it wasn't forbidden, (unless you counted the fact that I was underage) but it was pathetic that I felt alcohol necessary to get through a conversation with my mother.

As I walked back to the old hag, it hit me that whilst a confidence boost was needed, reduced inhibitions were not great when I was already having trouble not slapping my mother. Too late now, though.

I sat down in the chair opposite her, thinking how much bigger it felt without Dimitri sharing it with me. This was our usual spot when we were watching movies with Lissa and Christian, or just wanted to cuddle up close. Thinking of him made me wish that he was here as well, though I knew this was something my mother and I had to sort out alone.

"Well?" I asked. "Are you actually going to try and explain, or just sit there staring at me? I can't imagine either of them will have the desired outcome, whatever that is."

She leaned forward, the tension increasing as she closed the gap between us. "I've never been very good at talking you as a mother, which probably has something to do with the way mine treated me. Her relationship with my grandmother wasn't great either."

"Lucky that the cycle ends with me, then," I said dryly. The hint of bitterness that crept into my tone surprised me, and I brushed it off and blamed my mom's enduring ability to screw with my mind.

She didn't seem to hear me anyway. "When I got pregnant with you, I was so scared about telling her. It turned out that she thought it was the only worthwhile thing I'd done in my life." Thanks, grams. At least someone had wanted me. "She expected me to stay at the commune after you were born, and all but disowned me for sending you to the Academy and going back to Lord Szelsky." Her eyes burned into mine. "You probably agree with her, but I stand by my decision."

"So do I," I said truthfully. "I don't resent you for sending me to St. Vladimir's- not anymore, anyway. If you hadn't, I'd probably have stayed in the commune for the rest of my life." I was reluctant to say 'as a blood whore' as I knew better now, although from what I'd heard, my mom's family had fitted the definition better than the women in Baia. "I would never has met Lissa or Dimitri or become a Guardian. I love my job and who I am. What I've never understood was why you never visited."

"I tried-"

"Bullshit." I cut her off. "The last time you visited me was my 11?th birthday. The next year you sent a present and an apology, then the year after that a card that came late. Aside from the occasional comment I saw when I stole my disciplinary record, I didn't hear anything else until I _died_ in a car accident, where you sent a cheap get well card. You didn't even write the friggin' thing- you let someone else do it."

I could feel old scars opening, pain bleeding from the newly exposed parts of my soul. Why was my mother always the one with the knife?

"I regret that, Rose, so much. I should have been there for you. But you must remember that nobody knew about the healing- the message I received said only that there had been a crash and that you and Lissa had sustained only minor injuries. I couldn't leave my charge at that time, as there had just been an attack. Before I knew it you'd run away."

That sounded fair, but it wasn't enough to excuse her lack of attention. All those stupid pranks I'd pulled, acting up in lessons, breaking the rules- it had begun as a ruse to get my mom to visit, and ended up as revenge because she hadn't. I'd made it my mission to try to sully her reputation with my own.

"But why didn't you come when I was younger? On my birthdays, or actually at any time? I didn't care about when it was, I just wanted to know that you cared enough to come."

There was that pained look again. "You understand how hard it is to leave your charge."

I nodded, thinking of Dimitri and Ivan, and remembering how I'd started off never wanting to spend a day away from Lissa. But since then I'd learned that sometimes it was necessary to take a break, or your performance would be compromised. Of course, the fact that I knew Lissa was constantly surrounded by 19 other personal Guardians made it a little easier to leave her.

"But I'm your daughter," I insisted. "Even if you couldn't come and visit me, you still could have called."

"I wanted to. Believe me, Rose, I wanted to call you. But it was easier not to."

"Why," I asked bitterly, "because I was such a little brat?"

"No." Something changed in her countenance. "Because if I spoke to you, heard your little voice begging me to visit, then I'd have to do it or be haunted by thoughts of you alone and upset. It was selfish of me, I knew that at the time, but I did what I could live with. By focussing on the job and distancing myself from you, I could convince myself that you didn't need me and spare myself the guilt if I was wrong. Eventually, enough time passed that I knew you must hate me and that you wouldn't want to talk to me. I was right."

I couldn't hold back a laugh. "That's fucked up."

She smiled wryly, the tears pooling in her eyes catching me off guard. It had to be a trick of the light, or maybe it was dusty in here. The apartment needed a good clean. "I know. I knew it then, too, but it was easier. It's the only way I knew how to do it. The first day I dropped you off at school and left, I wanted to turn around and pick you up again. It hurt so much to leave my baby there, and every time I saw you it was the same. I didn't get to see you growing up; all I saw was the evidence that time was passing and that I wasn't a part of it. I was jealous and didn't know how to deal with it. And then there was the fact that every time saw you, it was a reminder of your father. Then I left you, it brought back the pain of leaving him. I hated my job and my duty for costing me my family, and the only way I could remain a Guardian was to pretend that the sacrifice didn't bother me. Seeing you would have made that impossible."

"They come first," I repeated for the millionth time in my life, voice monotone as I mulled over what she had said. Admitting to weakness wasn't something that Janine Hathaway did lightly, so I knew that it must be the truth. It also made me feel a little more sympathy for her; knowing that I wasn't the only one who had been hurting all those years. She could have stopped it, though.

"In my mind, yes, I had to fight to make that so. But you were always first in my heart. I've only ever wanted the best for you."

The sentiment made it impossible not to call up one of my signature quips. "That's got to be the most poetic thing you've ever said."

Mom shifted to the edge of the sofa and covered my hand with her own. Despite my initial impulse to pull it away, I left it there. After what she'd just revealed, I finally knew my mother's side of the story behind my seeming abandonment. I wouldn't have done the same thing, and was still dubious as to the motivations surrounding every missed phone call and birthday card, but at least I understood. Mostly.

"So it wasn't because I wasn't good enough?" I asked quietly, the fear that had driven my need for approval since childhood. In retrospect, my attention-seeking behaviour had probably come at a cost to the chances of receiving approval from her. "It wasn't because you were ashamed of me, or resented me for ruining your life?"

A look of utter shock dominated my mom's face. "Rose, no! I never thought... never did I ever think any of those things- not after you were born, anyway. When I was pregnant I was worried about my career, but once you were born I knew that everything was worth it. No, sweetheart, the only person I blamed for not being good enough was myself. I know I've been a bad mother at times..." Her other hand joined where ours were already clasped.

I didn't bother to correct her with 'most of the time'. "The email you sent when I came back to school?" I asked.

She gave me a look. "I might not be the best at the job, but I'm still your mother. I was angry and upset and a bit irritated that Belikov was able to find you when your father and I couldn't."

Hearing Abe's involvement at that early star was interesting, but she'd brought up something else which needed discussing. Some of my new-found forgiveness was tempered with a fresh dose of anger.

"Alright, so you've given me your sob story and explained away your faults over the years. What do you have to say about yesterday? I was under the impression that you were here to apologise for that." I pulled my hand out from between hers.

"Just because I've seen the error of my ways doesn't mean that I always choose the correct path now. I'm scared, Rose. I just got you back and I'm losing you again, to a man who understands you and cares for you better than I ever did."

Go figure. The reason that my mom couldn't accept my upcoming marriage was because the guy I was marrying was too perfect. "Wait, you were being such a bitch because you were jealous?"Maybe I should have brought home an older, tattooed, scary-ass car thief. Oh, hold on. I had.

"Yes. Well, sort of. Rose, it's clear how much you love him. I'm worried that he's going to leave you- maybe not intentionally," she added on seeing my scowl, "and that there's not going to be a thing that anyone can do to fix it. As a highly skilled Guardian you're relatively safe, but if something happens to him then you'll be racing off across the world again with barely a regard for your own life."

"I'd do that for anyone I care about," I stated matter-of -factly. "It's what I do." She ignored me, on a roll now.

"I've heard so much about Olena Belikova and how brilliant she is, but how much does she know about me? I'm embarrassed by how I'll appear to her, and how she'll judge me for being a shoddy mother at times."

"Olena doesn't judge," I said, springing to my future mother-in-law's defence. "She's usually on the receiving end, though. And I've said plenty about what an amazing Guardian you are."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Doesn't judge- one more way she's better than me." I ignored her pettiness, wanting to move this conversation along to some kind of closure. It was beginning to drag, and I had better things to do than spend an afternoon battling with my mother. Thankfully, it seemed like she couldn't stop talking. "Anyway, I'd be hopeless at wedding planning. I couldn't tell the difference between silk and satin, or cream and ivory. I'd just get in the way."

"I can't tell the difference either," I scoffed. "That's what Lissa's for. I just wanted you to be there as support, someone to help make her back off when she said the word 'tulle' too many times. I still don't know what it is! I hoped that the wedding planning could be sort of mother-daughter bonding activity, or whatever the current Hallmark term for it is."

Guilt crept into her features. "I didn't realise you felt that way. You made it sound as though you actually wanted an opinion, which I honestly don't have about weddings. I've never even been to one. It's just how I've grown up- marriage is rare as it is; the white wedding thing is something I've never seen the attraction of. That's part of the reason your father and I parted ways."

If there were any more surprises like this to come, than I had a feeling that more alcohol might be necessary. "Wait, Abe wanted to get married?"

Mom laughed. "The first words he ever spoke to me were a proposal, though of course he wasn't serious at that point. He asked again, and I declined as I wasn't ready to tie myself down to one man for the rest of my life. The third time he asked was when I told him I was pregnant, but I was so overwhelmed by everything that I never gave him an answer. Then you were born and I almost said yes, but by then it was too late. Abe explained to me the extent of his 'business', and we decided it was best for him not to be a part of your life."

Wow. By this point she could have said that she'd split up with Abe because he thought I might be Sasquatch's lovechild. I decided just to roll with it for now and process everything later, preferably on a full stomach. "So to sum everything up, you've been bitter and selfish for most of my life and want to turn things around, but don't know how."

She gave me a look that said that my summary wasn't quite satisfactory, but didn't pursue the point. "Yes. Considering how alike we are- whether you can see that or not- I feared that you felt the same but were deluding yourself to believe that you wanted something you didn't."

"It wouldn't be the first time," I joked, echoing something I'd once said to Dimitri, "but no. Not about this."

We sat in silence for a minute, letting everything that she'd said sink in.

"I can see that, actually. The first time I ever really tried to see things from your side was when Dimitri pointed out how similar we are. I was so angry at him for that," I laughed, "I refused to believe that I could relate to you at all. But like always, he was right."

Her brow furrowed. "Dimitri's responsible you starting to treat me like a human being?"

"Yep," I said, popping the p. "If he hadn't come along with his Zen wisdom and practical advice crap, I might never have forgiven you for punching me in the face."

"Hmph. Here I was hoping that you'd grown up and made that decision on your own."

"Stubbornness was something I inherited from you," I said with a smirk. "It just needed an impartial third party to point it out."

She muttered something like 'impartial indeed', but her expression was softer now.

"So...any chance that you'll come dress shopping? You don't have to have an opinion, or say anything at all. You could even just come as Lissa's sub Guardian," I hedged.

"Rose," she said gently, laying her hand over mine again, "I didn't realise how important this was to you. I'll be there; not as a Guardian, but as your mother."

I searched her face for any sign that she was just humouring me to avoid another fallout, but that wasn't in her nature. She didn't sugar coat things or pander to what others wanted, and I admired that in her.

Switching to the sofa, I surprised mom with a hug. She returned the embrace after a few static moments of surprise.

"I won't just sit there like a mute, either. I'll give my opinion, for what it's worth. I might not be able to tell what fabric the dress is made of or make comments on the cut, but I'll tell you if it looks shit or not." The sound of my mom swearing in her thick Scottish accent made me want to giggle, which I stifled immediately. "By the same merit, I'll say if you look good."

"Aren't mothers supposed to think their daughters look good in everything?"

Mom snorted. "No, that's Dimitri's job. It's up to me to make sure you don't embarrass yourself and show me up."

Confessions of inadequacies and fears aside, she was still the same old Janine I knew and, yes, loved.

"I love you mom," I said as I broke the embrace, "but can you try to actually accept that I'm capable of making my own choices? And maybe a little less of a bitch in the future?"

For a moment I thought she was going to about at me for calling her a bitch, but she just nodded. "I'll try, but it seems to be an inescapable Hathaway trait."

"That sounds like an excuse," I said suspiciously.

"Another trait of ours."

With bad reality TV playing in the background, mom and I flicked through one of the many wedding magazines Lissa had purchased for me. Together we discarded the poofy ballgowns and chiffon explosions, argued over the need for lace, and finally decided on a total of two dresses that passed our rigorous scrutiny. Both were miles out of my price range as they were from high-end designers, but at least now I had an idea of what to look for when actually trying on real dresses. We also set a definitive budget that I was comfortable with, as I was still insisting on paying for the dress myself.

Now that my mom was on board, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Finally burying the hatchet that had been keeping us apart for so long felt good as well; though I'd forgiven her before, I'd never really had closure. Now I did, and was free to focus on the wedding. The excitement built as time passed, and I couldn't wait to go and buy my dress.

* * *

**So, there you go. How was it? I wanted to give Janine reasons for past and present failures without removing the fact that she was just being a bit of a bitch as well. I'd love your opinion on how it came across :) **

**Review and Dimitri will daydream about you at work. Look at the latest Frostbite movie news and he will skip work to come and make that daydream a reality ;D **


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't know if you've seen, but I'm hosting a writing competition in order to support the possible production of Frostbite. More details are in a story on my page, so go check that out. I'll add another one shot to it soon, and a couple of people have already entered. It would be great to get some more entries :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy, nor did I own it in the last chapter or the one before that. Nor will I in the future. **

* * *

29th May - Days until wedding- 23

Nearly a week later, and we'd got almost everything planned and ready. Olena and Viktoria were arriving later today, so I'd drafted Sydney in to help me clean the apartment. I'd promised Dimitri I'd do it whilst he worked, and he'd probably be embarrassed that Sydney was cleaning up our mess, but I didn't care. As long as she was gone by the time Dimitri came home, he'd never know.

The laundry had been piling up since it was my week and I couldn't be bothered to do it. In this relationship, chores were delegated on a fair and even basis.

Whoever won the weekly game of Call of Duty had to do the chores for the next, or if there were any international sports in play, then it was down to the country that lost to do them. This had always worked out pretty well for me, except during the Winter Olympics. I'd claimed that the home team advantage was unfair, but still found myself cleaning almost every day.

"Rose!" Sydney exclaimed. "You're a nightmare!" Turning around, I saw that she'd discovered the drawer where I shoved all the cutlery instead of cleaning it properly. Honestly, I rinsed them to get the food off. How dirty could they be? "How do you never run out of forks?"

"Oh," I shrugged. "I just wait until it's Dimitri's turn to do the washing up then chuck the lot into the dishwasher. I do the same for most clothes as well- they're in the drawer under my bed."

Sydney cringed at the lack of order and cleanliness. "Does Dimitri not notice this?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. He's never mentioned it, but not much gets past him. It's easier for him just to clean up than to make me do it and get into an argument."

"Healthy relationship," she muttered.

"Hey, it works. Compromise, right?"

She didn't look convinced. "So what's the compromise on your part?"

"Letting him play his crap music whilst he drives." I grimaced, though in all fairness, I'd sort of got used to it.

"Such a sacrifice."

I glared, before reaching into the sink and grabbing a handful of soap bubbles and flicking them at her. She let out a shocked squeal before glaring back. She was out for revenge, and if it meant a pause in this tedious cleaning, then I was all for a suds war.

An hour later and everything was done, much to my relief. I had plans for when Dimitri got home, and they didn't involve chatting whilst we scrubbed toilets.

Just as soon as I had sent Sydney off with many a thank you, the door opened again and Dimitri came in. His gaze rested on the sparkling countertop for no more than a second before stopping on me, leaning against it and drinking juice from one of the freshly washed glasses. The fact that it wasn't in a half-heartedly cleaned mug from that morning obviously wasn't enough to distract him from his focus.

After his hands grabbed for my waist, I barely had a second to put my drink down before it spilt and ruined this moment that I had been looking forward to since he'd left for work this morning.

"I missed you today," he whispered, body pressing against mine, breath warm on my neck. I suppressed a shiver.

"I bet you did. Christian's meeting must have been unbelievably boring without me there liven things up."

"We finished early," he said drily, the reminder of the tedium causing the mood to drop a little. "But then Hans drafted me into helping with the paperwork."

"And that must have been even worse." I tugged at the bottom of his shirt, hoping to regain the tension that had been there when he first rushed over to me. It worked, as his hands began to wander as my own trailed across the hard planes of his stomach.

"Mmm, I didn't have you to look at between reports."

"You say _I_ procrastinate too much," I reminded him as I finished untucking his shirt and began to work on the buttons.

"No, you just caught too often."

His hands drifted lower, and he used his new grip on my butt to lift me up onto the freshly-cleaned counter. I hooked my legs around his waist as the intensity of our kissing picked up. Since I was now on his level, I was able to wrap my arms more tightly around his neck. There was a slight niggling feeling at the back of my mind, like I had something to tell him. It was sort of like the night of the lust charm, but since I knew that Lissa wasn't in danger this time, I let it go. One did not dwell on trivial matters when you were having a really great make-out session with a guy like Dimitri. It was just wasteful.  
Of course, I'd never been the best at following even simple logic.

"Nuh, no." I remembered what I had meant to say before, though it still seemed unimportant as his lips moved against mine. I reluctantly broke the kiss, but Dimitri wasn't discouraged, moving his mouth to my neck instead. It was very distracting. "I wanted to talk to you, about- the honeymoon. We need- to confirm time off. And-"

"Why wait for the honeymoon?"

An argument like that, however, could not be ignored.

* * *

It was a while before I was in any position to talk again. Sadly, Dimitri had to leave to pick up Olena and Viktoria from the airport (Abe had been unable to get his jet to land at Court on such short notice, and since he'd been called to an emergency meeting as well, was not in a good mood), so I was left to make the final arrangements.

Final arrangements, in this case, meant making sure that my mother was presentable. That was no easy task.

If just finished getting dressed when I heard her signature sharp rap on the door. "Gimme a minute!" I shouted, earning an irritated huff that I could hear from all the way inside.

Pulling my top down, I rushed to the door. "You can huff and puff all you like, but if it blows the house down, you're coming with it."

Mom rolled her eyes, and it took me a moment to realise what something was different.

"You're wearing a colour!" Granted, it was a deep green that was hardly anything to be excited about, but it made a change to see her out of monochrome.

"If you make any more of a fuss, I'll go home and change it."

She was even more snappy than normal, which was not good for making friends. "No, it's nice. I mean, it looks pretty with your hair," I tried to placate her.

Her eyes scrutinised me for a moment, before relaxing when she saw that I wasn't taking the piss.

"Well, you did tell me to 'make an effort'."

I nodded, leading her over to the sofa. "You've made a good start. Now, ground rules. No talking shop; Olena worries enough as it is without you telling Strigoi stories like they're sweet little anecdotes. Don't say blood whore, or I will be forced to ban you from my wedding. Don't-"

"Honestly Rose, what do you think I am? I'm not going to be calling anyone a blood whore. This is ridiculous. I know you think that I'm tactless and utterly blind to social cues, but-"

"Mom, _you_ were the one that told me that Dimitri was probably going to be shacking up with Tasha. On Christmas Day."

My mom's face went hard at the sound of her name. "I was unaware of your feelings at this point, which was actually a very good thing. If I had known, then Belikov probably wouldn't have lived to see the New Year."

Her choice of words hurt. "And again, another perfect example of why you need to think before you speak."

As she ran back over her words in her head, mom grimaced. "Alright, point taken. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." I assured her, though the reminder of Mason's death had dampened my mood somewhat. "Just don't talk about Strigoi, blood whores, domestic abuse, my horrible behaviour over the years or anything else embarrassing like that. Okay?"

"Yes, but-"

There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, and I shot up off the sofa to be ready to greet them.

Dimitri entered first, but I barely had time to spare him a smile before he was shoved out of the way by his sister.

"Roza!"

"Hey Vika," I laughed as she barrelled into me. Though she'd matured a lot since I first met her, I wasn't sure if she'd ever lose her excited-puppy enthusiasm. I hoped she never did.

"Roza, I'm so excited. I can't wait to see your dress, and mine, and how everything's coming along! I can't believe the wedding is so soon!" She turned to Dimitri, sighing comically. "Dimka's all grown up and getting married."

"That's my line," Olena joked as she stepped into the space her daughter had just vacated. Viktoria spotted my mom for the first time and went to say hi. They'd met briefly during the camping trip, but due to Viktoria's early flight they hadn't had much time to talk.

It was Olena's turn to embrace me next, and for the first time it occurred to me how strange this meeting had the potential to be. Right now I was hugging Olena- personification of maternal comfort- whilst my own mom-whose parental technique still left a lot to be desired- watched. It almost felt like I was cheating.

That was ridiculous, of course, so I brushed it off. What I'd done to Adrian was cheat; this was family politics. My mom would have to deal.

"You're looking very well Roza, considering how stressful this last-minute planning must be."

I laughed, shrugging off both the comment and my earlier hesitation. "Last minute's kind of my forte, so it's not too bad. Lissa's been doing all the legwork."

By now, my mom had got up off the couch and was standing awkwardly off to the side. Olena spotted her; a wide, genuine smile spreading over her kind face.

"You must be Janine! It's lovely to finally meet you."

Mom took a hesitant step forward, still as graceful as ever but lacking the confidence she would normally show in battle. Janine Hathaway was scared- of Olena nonetheless. Had it been Yeva, I could have understood.

"The pleasure is all mine, Olena. I've heard so much about you- especially your cooking."

Olena laughed. "I've heard of your endeavours, too. From your reputation and what Rose has said, you're a formidable woman."

"I'm sure she's used other words for it than that."

Dimitri came to stand beside me as I did my best not to cringe at my mom's attempt at humour. Fortunately, Olena's gentle temperament meant that she simply laughed again.

"I see now where Rose gets it from." With a smile, she pulled my mom in for a hug. I held my breath.

Mom looked shocked for a second, before returning the embrace. They stepped back a second later, and I let out a sigh of relief. My mom was smiling warmly, and I knew that Olena had worked her magic. Honestly, it was impossible not to love the woman.

"Does anyone want a drink?" I asked. They gave me their orders and mom took Olena and Viktoria to sit down as Dimitri and I went to the kitchen. After turning the coffee maker on, I used its whirring to cover the sound of my voice.

"Well, that seemed to go alright. Though to be honest, your mom could probably charm a Strigoi into being polite and civil. It must be because that particular trait skipped Yeva's generation that Olena ended up with double."

Dimitri rolled his eyes, but didn't disagree.

When we carried the drinks out to the living room, Olena and my mom were chatting away like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

Dimitri sat down first, and I took the seat beside him. It was barely a moment before Dimitri's arm came to rest over my shoulders, and I sat as close as was socially acceptable in the presence of family.

**DPOV**

"Roza, Dimka, I was just saying to Janine how lovely your apartment is. You've really made it into something special." Her gaze travelled around the room, lingering on the photos of Rose and I propped up on the bookshelf.

Though she tried to hide it, Rose glowed under the praise. Janine had been sceptical when Rose said we were moving in together, despite it being the most logical thing both financially and practically. To receive this comment from my mother of all people was the best it could get, since Rose thought of her house as the template for the perfect family home.

"Thanks, Olena. All the antique-y furniture was here when I moved in, but we bought the rest ourselves. It's not much, but it's home."

"I'm so glad you've had the chance to make it your own. When Dimka moved out, I feared he'd be living in a bare room for the rest of his life." My mother gave me that exasperated look. "I've never known anyone take such a little interest in 'stuff', even as a child. It made buying Christmas presents a nightmare."

Viktoria grinned. "It was better for us though, because we'd just get Dimka to ask for what we wanted."

I frowned. "That was all well and good until you I had to ask for Barbie dolls and ponies. Then it was just embarrassing."

Everyone laughed at my expense, and Janine had an anecdote of her own to share. "That's ironic, because for her third birthday Rose asked for an Action Man and a Nerf gun."

"What can I say? My tendency towards violence started young."

Viktoria giggled. "I always think it's so sweet how different you two are, but how perfect you are together."

Rose and I shared a knowing glance, acknowledging the fact that fundamentally, we weren't so different at all. Still, Rose didn't waste the opportunity for a joke. "It's a good thing, too, because can you image two of me living together? I'm pretty sure that would result in this place looking like it was nuked from orbit."

"Yes, especially since just the one of you has almost burned it down already," I added drily.

She turned to glare at me as my mother's look of amusement became more pronounced. "Look, that was _one time_, and only because_ you_ changed the toaster setting without telling me. So actually, it was as much your fault as mine."

"It wasn't me who put a fork in it whilst it was still plugged in."

"The toast was already on fire- it wasn't like it could have got much worse." Janine looked mildly embarrassed at her daughter's antics, but my mom just watched us bicker with an indulgent smile. "And if I'm such a liability in the kitchen, then you can take full responsibility for making dinner tonight," she finished, a triumphant gleam in her brown eyes.

I'd just been played, I realised. Rose had been worried about how it would look in front of my mother if she didn't have some role in making dinner, but was even more scared about doing something to spoil it. Now, she'd set everything up perfectly so that either she had an excuse not to help, or I would have to concede that she wasn't an utter fire hazard.

I silently let her know that I knew exactly what she had done before answering. "That's a good idea. Maybe I'll ask Christian to help."

"Good plan." She frowned. "Speaking of His Lordship, where are Christian and his better half?"

It was Janine that answered. "They're in their apartment. I meant to say before; Lissa said to tell you to call her over whenever it was convenient to discuss times for tomorrow. "

I felt Rose physically still as she bit back some comment, probably about how the 'great Janine' had managed to forget something like that. They'd sorted the worst of their issues out last week, but that didn't stop their personalities from clashing. "Okay. Shall I get her now?"

That was directed at my mother, who looked a little daunted at the prospect of an audience with the Queen.

Rose got up to go and see Lissa, and like always there was that sensation of a part of myself leaving with her as she disappeared from the room.

"Lissa's a lovely girl," Janine said, sensing my mother's discomfort. I was a little surprised at her attempt to ease the tension in the room. "And Christian..."

"Is a lot like Ivan," I added, "in that he couldn't care less about what the other Royals think. He's also a lot like Rose," I smiled wryly, "with respect to sarcasm and a need to challenge everything- and win."

"You were talking about me?" two voices said simultaneously from the doorway, and I looked up to see Rose and Christian both looking at each other with expressions of horror at having said the same thing at the same time. This resulted in a chorus of 'jinx, double jinx, triple jinx...' until Lissa pushed her way between them, rolling her eyes.

"You'll get used to that." She hugged Vika quickly, whispering something excitedly before turning to my mother. "Olena, it's so nice to meet you!"

She bowed her head. "Your Majesty, it is truly an honour-"

"Please, just call me Lissa. We're all equals here."

"And I'm just Christian. Being called 'Lord' makes me feel ill," my charge called from the doorway.

Rose snickered. "Funny, that's the reaction the rest of us get from looking at your face."

Christian opened his mouth to shoot back some snarky reply, but Lissa's glare cut him off before she turned back to my mother. "You'll get used to it," she repeated. "They like each other really, and they'll be on their best behaviour for the wedding."

"You make it sound like we're children," Rose said indignantly. Lissa and I shared a glance before turning our gazes to Rose and Christian, silently saying that her statement wasn't far from the truth. Rose sat down at the opposite end of the couch, feigning anger at me. I just moved across to the next cushion and pulled her closer from there. She relented almost instantly.

Lissa and Christian took the last available seats, adopting a similar position.

"What time do you want to leave tomorrow?" Lissa asked.

"It's a two-hour drive, and we need to ensure that we can get back with plenty of sunlight left. My appointment's at 8:30. So, I thought 6am? Then hopefully we can be back in bed by 2, maybe 3pm latest?"

Due to the dress shop being run by humans, they had to go during the vampire night. This was a practice Moroi were used to and cope with quite well- especially teenagers used to being up until early morning- and Dhampir endurance meant that we could quite comfortably go for 24 hours without sleep. The sunlight also meant that the chance of an attack was much lower, although not completely out of the question.

"Is four hours going to be enough time to get everything?" Viktoria asked.

"If I can't find a dress in four hours, I'll be wearing jeans and a Tee shirt down the aisle." I could hear the teasing note in her voice, but Vika looked horrified. "I'm joking, don't worry. Seriously though, I'm not too picky. I'll find something with plenty of time left for you lot to get bridesmaid dresses."

Viktoria still didn't look convinced, but I didn't see a problem. Rose would still be the most beautiful bride in the world if she did wear jeans, so any dress that fit even moderately well would be perfect in my eyes. As long as Rose was happy, so was I.

Of course, I was less enamoured with the thought of spending most of the night alone. Rose was a talisman for keeping away bad memories and nightmares; it was like whilst I held her in my arms her beauty and goodness seeped through my skin to fight away the demons that lingered at the corners of my mind.

I could always just wait up for her, read or watch a movie, but then I'd consciously miss her even more. Looking into her smiling face, I didn't care if my thoughts were more in line with a lovestruck teenager's than a grown man's. Life was easier with Rose by my side.

"What about you, Dimka?"

I tore my gaze away from Rose's face to meet my mother's eyes. It seemed I had completely missed the subject of the question, and from the way she pursed her lips trying not to smile, she knew why.

"I asked if you've got your tux yet."

"Oh, right." Focus; and not on Rose's fingers as she traced a pattern against my side. A quick glance her way told me that she knew exactly what she was doing, and was enjoying it. Right, my mother. "I'm using the pants and jacket that I bought for Lissa and Christian's wedding, and I've ordered a new vest from the Court tailor." Getting clothes in my size was a nightmare at the best of times, as usually anything that allowed for my height could fit two of me inside width-ways. At the Moroi Court, the opposite was the problem. I could finally find clothes made with height in mind, but they had a slim Moroi build. I wasn't exactly bulky with muscle, but compared to Christian or Adrian, there was a lot more of me. Christian had tried to lend me a shirt a while back, but I hadn't been able to get my hand through the cuff I was about 5 inches of fabric short from being able to button it up across the chest.

It was so much easier just to stick with what had already been tailor-made for me. Rose agreed that the money would be better of being saved to pay for the church hire, which accounted for most of our budget.

Rose looked as though she was about to say something when her pager went off, beeping from somewhere across the room. She sighed as she got up to get it, but Janine reached behind her and pulled the device out from behind the cushion she was sitting on. She rolled her eyes before pitching it to her daughter.

After looking at the little screen, Rose's expression of mild irritation shifted to something deeper.

"Hans!" She growled. "The stupid ass has mixed up my off day and has me booked in to work tomorrow, and won't even admit he's screwed up. He's blaming a 'system error'."

"The system might be to blame," I said diplomatically. "It's been faulty a lot lately."

She slumped against me in defeat, pouting. "Then he should have fixed it." She sat up a moment later, turning to my family. "This means I won't be able to show you around tomorrow and introduce you to everyone." She paused for a moment. "Shall I get them to come round now? Then maybe one of them can give you the tour of Court."

Mama smiled as Viktoria nodded eagerly.

Rose texted everyone to come over, and the conversation fell back to the wedding again for about 20 minutes. Lissa was cut off mid-sentence by the front door being thrown open and banging against the wall. I mentally groaned as the cocky Moroi strode into the room, three other sets of footsteps following behind.

"Hey, it's Big Dhampir's little sis!" Adrian greeted Viktoria with his trademark grin, before noticing my mother. "And one of the elder sisters, perhaps?"

I resisted the urge to look away as mama blushed slightly. "Olena; Dimitri's mother. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lord Ivashkov." So she knew who he was. Brilliant.

"The pleasure is all mine," Adrian replied, capturing her hand and stooping to kiss it. I wanted to punch the moron in the face, and Rose looked torn between cringing and laughing. She was saved from having to do either when mama noticed Sydney standing a little way off, looking decidedly embarrassed by Adrian's flirtatious display.

"Sydney! It's lovely to see you again. You're looking very well."

Of course. I'd forgotten that my mother had met Sydney when she accompanied Rose to Baia the first time. Back then, though, Sydney had been a totally different girl.

"As are you, Olena," Sydney said warmly. "It's good to meet again in far better circumstances. I apologise if I came across as cold before, but my Alchemist training had not prepared me for living in such close proximity to so many Dhampirs."

"No need to apologise, dear. It's how you were brought up. I'm sure that we weren't as welcoming as we would otherwise have been either."

Sydney didn't say anything else, maybe because she was worried about leading the conversation further down the path it was headed. Thankfully, Mia stepped in to introduce herself, followed by Eddie.

"You've been spared _Zmey's_ presence for today," Rose joked, "because he has a meeting. He'll probably turn up tomorrow, though, especially if you're having a tour of Court." She looked to our friends. "Anyone free tomorrow?"

Mia and Sydney were, and Adrian looked disappointed as he informed us that he had an inescapable commitment. I couldn't help but feel a little glad; it would have been weird for Rose's ex boyfriend to show my mother and sister around. As far as they knew he had only ever been a friend, and my pride wanted it kept that way.

That was unlikely, of course, given Adrian's tendency to talk about anything and everything, but I could hope that the fact was revealed tactfully, if at all.

Conversation flowed easily between everyone, but before long the latecomers began to excuse themselves. Before long Christian and I installed ourselves in the kitchen as Rose showed by family to our spare room, which was the only accommodation they would accept. The argument that evolved from this was good-natured, and as I watched my mother stand up to the Moroi Queen, I knew that mine and Rose's families would have no trouble fitting together. Christian watched the squabble unfold a little wistfully, but he seemed to be focussing on what he had gained as much as what he had lost. He might not have any blood relatives left, but he had a firm place in this family we has created for ourselves.

He soaked up my mother's praise at dinner, occasionally exchanging a glance with Lissa that held some message I couldn't decode. It must have been a good one, though, given her smile that served as a reply. Even Janine was taking part in the conversation, and her contributions were rarely out of place.

Due to the noise at the table, it took me a while to notice Rose's relative silence. For a moment I was concerned that she was feeling left out, before noticing how she seemed perfectly content to just sit and listen (as well as eat, of course). She felt my gaze on her and turned her face to mine, and I knew that she was feeling the same sense of peace that I was. Our families were getting along, and it seemed unlikely that even Abe would be able to upset this balance.

Her hand caught mine under the table and squeezed, a physical manifestation of the sense of security that surrounded us.

* * *

**Sorry if there are any mistakes, I'm writing this really late (early, actually) as a distraction from the fact I get my AS results tomorrow (today? Ugh.) Good luck to anyone else who's also getting A level results tomorrow :) **

**Review and get a Dimitri-induced sense of security :) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, it's been a while since the last update. I'm busy with Uni applications at the moment (if I hear the words Personal Statement again, I will scream) and trying desperately to understand A level Chemistry. I was also busy with my competition and writing Frost Bites at the beginning at the month, so this story was put on hold for a little while.  
This chapter is extra long to make up for the wait. I find it hard to write large groups of people unfamiliar with each other, especially in delicate situations, so I hope I pulled this off :) **

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Richelle Mead. **

* * *

By the time we arrived at the bridal salon, I was very glad to be getting out of the car. Lissa and Viktoria's excitement levels had shot through the roof, and the two of them practically skipped across the parking lot. I shared a look with Sydney, and saw that she was in no hurry. She tilted her face back up to the sun, apparently enjoying the daylight as much as I was. Mom and Olena were chatting away like they had been almost non-stop since they met, and Mia seemed to be trying to copy Meredith's stance. I nodded to my fellow Guardian as she peeled away from the group, heading over to the bench where she would wait for us to finish. Casting my gaze farther out from our group, I clocked three of Lissa's guards stationed around the area, knowing that another two were hidden away out of sight.

The bell chimed as Lissa opened the door, holding it open so that I could walk through first.

"Your majesty," I whispered, "you would hold a door for a lowly Dhampir?"

She rolled her eyes, giving me a little shove as I smirked. "You're the important one today, Rose. We're just teenagers out shopping for wedding dresses."

I beamed. "Coming from the Bride of Dracula!"

Hearing someone else enter the room, I looked up to see a petite blonde woman in a tailored suit striding out from behind a curtained doorway.

"Rose Hathaway?" she enquired, a slight foreign lilt to her voice.

"That's me." I lifted a hand in an awkward half-wave. Lissa always looked polished, being Queen and all, but this woman looked like she'd been airbrushed. Selling dresses that 'made happy ever afters' must have been easier if you looked like you'd stepped out of the pages of Vogue.

"Of course," the woman said, breaking a wide smile splitting her features as she offered her hand for me to shake. "It's wonderful to have you here. I'm Elodie." She looked around at my entourage. "Who have you brought with you today?"

I took a deep breath, gesturing to everyone as I said their names. "My maid of honour, Lissa, three bridesmaids Sydney, Mia and Viktoria. Vika is my future sister-in-law, and Olena is my future mother-in-law. And this is my mother, Janine."

"Wonderful!" Elodie clapped her hands. "Please, sit down. Now, I have you down as having three weeks until the wedding, correct?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I know it's sort of short notice, but getting everyone here was a challenge."

"Of course. Three weeks shouldn't pose a problem- I once had a bride in here four hours before her wedding because someone had spilled champagne on her dress whilst getting ready that morning." We all grimaced at that. "She was happy in the end, as she didn't really love the first dress anyway. Now, Rose, have you been looking at any dresses, found anything you like, don't like?"

This woman's habit of switching track caught me off guard a little, but I couldn't really complain since I didn't have to learn 7 people's names right away. "Well, so far I've decided that I'd definitely like a strapless dress. Full length is good, but I don't want a really full skirt. Nothing too flashy, but... elegant, I guess? I don't really know; I was kind of hoping that you could help me out."

Elodie smiled. "That's my job. I think I have an idea of what you would like and what would suit you. Do you have a budget in mind?"

I cringed inwardly, not wanting to sound like a complete idiot. I'd done some research around how much I could expect o pay for a new wedding dress, and factored it into our budget. Though I knew the price I had in mind wasn't ridiculously low, I was still apprehensive about saying it.

"Around $300?" I could stretch to $400, but had read online that I should only say the lower end of the price range since salon owners tended to pick more expensive dresses in the hopes you'd fall in love with it and pay more anyway.

"Alright." Elodie smiled encouragingly, much to my relief. "Feel free to have a look around the store; I'm just going into the storage area to pull out a few dresses that I think you'll love based on what you've told me, and we can see how they match up."

As soon as Elodie had left the room, my friends shot up and began attacking the racks like a plague of locust. I was left sitting, slightly bewildered, between mom and Olena.

"Did I just miss some signal that turns teenage girls into scavengers? There's so much _white_ I don't know where to start!"

My mom tried to speak, but was cut off by Mia shrieking as she pulled a dress from the rack. "Treat it like you would a battle," she advised, trying again. "Start at the edge and work your way through until you reach the middle. Focus only on the target immediately ahead."

I had to admit, my mom's battle strategy wasn't too crazy. I ignored the excited squeals of my friends as they pulled out dress after dress (most of which were blatantly _their_ dream dress) and picked up two of my own that I liked before reaching the end of the rack. It was a slightly half-hearted attempt, but I figured that Elodie would pick nicer ones anyway, so it wasn't worth stressing over.

Sure enough, she came back with her arms laden with hangers. "I can see from here that you've picked out one that I have," she told me. "That's good- it means we're on the same page about what you want. Let's take the rest of these into the dressing room and pick out your favourites."

With a look of mock panic back at the others, I followed Elodie behind the curtain and into one of the two large dressing rooms.

Out of the five Elodie had picked, and the two I had, I finished with a shortlist of three for now- including the one we had both chosen. Elodie suggested trying on my own choice first though, so she helped me into it and pegged the back closed when it turned out to be too big.

When I left the changing room, I saw a mirror just before crossing back into the waiting room. The dress hugged my curves, the satin material of the skirt falling from my hips to pool at my feet. It was a little difficult to walk in, but that was something I could get used to. Me looking like a bride felt much weirder. Good weird, though, I decided, since it was Dimitri that I was marrying.

A collective gasp echoed through the room as I stepped out from behind the curtain and faced my family. Lissa was the first one to start squealing and flapping her hands about, before promptly bursting into tears. Not demure, Queenly, 'I can't believe how beautiful you look tears', but explosive, messy ones.

"Sorry, hormones!" she squeaked. " You look so pretty!"

I spun around slowly in the dress, effectively hiding my eye roll. When I came to stop facing them again, they were all beaming. Well, my mom had a small smile on her face, but that was rare enough to be counted as special.

"Oh Roza, look at you!" Olena exclaimed.

"I can't believe you're actually marrying my brother. I still don't understand how Dimka managed to get you," Viktoria joked, earning a sharp glance from her mother. "What? Come on; if Dimitri had walked up and said 'hi, this is my girlfriend', you would have laughed at him as well."

"We had the same thing," Mia confided. "Only we couldn't work out how Guar- Dimitri had possibly fallen for Rose!" She stopped herself from saying Dimitri's title, even though it was unlikely to have meant anything to the human.

"Alright, alright," I interrupted. "You can make jokes about the unlikely match during the speeches- but I need a dress before then!"

They looked guilty for a moment, before relaxing back into smiles again.

"I like the colour," Lissa said as she looked over the dress with a critical eye. "It looks good with your skin."

I resisted the urge to tell her I could barely tell the difference between this white and all the other white dresses in the shop.

"It looks amazing on you," Mia said. "Like, it's exactly the kind of thing I imagined you in."

"Okay, so you all think it's great. Is there anything you don't like?" Silence. I looked to the one woman who had yet to say anything. "Mom? What do you think?"

"You look beautiful, Rose," she said, and I couldn't help the flare of joy that blossomed in my chest at my mother's compliment. "But I think you can feel something isn't right. Are you completely comfortable in it?"

That was one thing I could always count on my mother to remind me of- practicality. Now that she mentioned it, I knew what was putting me off. "Aside from the pegs jabbing me in the back?" I joked. "The skirt feels kind of... restricting, like I couldn't move very well." My mom nodded, realising the importance of this. "And the top, too, it's like there's too much here." I patted the fabric on my chest, which seemed to form an arch upwards rather than going straight across.

"Okay," Elodie said encouragingly, "now we know what we like and what we don't, let's go get you into another dress."

Mia waved as I left, though whether the gesture was for me or the garment I was wearing I wasn't sure. I wouldn't put the latter past her.

Back in the changing room Elodie helped me out of the dress, taking the one I had chosen from the hanger and allowing me to step into it.

"This one has a slightly stiffer skirt," she told me, "so it shouldn't be so restrictive when you walk. It also has a lower, sweetheart neckline."

Walking out of the changing room was easier with the new dress, and the silhouette was more flattering on my body. The silky material was folded across the bodice; an effect which I decided I liked. It also hugged my waist and accentuated my hourglass figure, so ticked all my boxes.

I stepped closer to the mirror to get a closer look at the new neckline, but this new angle showed me something I hadn't noticed a moment ago.

The three sunburst scars from Tasha's bullets stood out in stark contrast against my summer tan, the white of the dress somehow amplifying their appearance. The long vertical scar from the surgery had faded now and was barely visible, but the nature of the bullet wounds meant that they'd likely never heal fully.

Elodie was still walking ahead of me so I jogged to catch up, fisting my hand in the material of the dress both to hold it up and hide the scars. Nobody out there had seen them properly- even on the camping trip they'd been less noticeable due to my skin being paler after the winter and me spending most of my bikini-clad time underwater. It wasn't that I was ashamed of them, but-

Mia's squeal interrupted my mental reasoning for hiding my scars from my family.

"That one's even more gorgeous!"

"Oh Rose, that one's perfect!" Lissa exclaimed. "It ticks all the boxes you wanted."

I nodded, feeling a little sick with disappointment. "Yeah, it does."

Nobody noticed how I was feeling. "Go on, Roza," Viktoria encouraged, "give us a twirl."

I did as I was told, hoping stupidly that they'd be happy to judge this dress just on how the back looked. Since it was slipped up with ugly plastic pegs, though, I doubted they'd be satisfied.

"That one looks like it's easier to move in," my mom commented before her face softened into a smile. "You look very nice."

I smirked. "Are you sure? I mean, you're not going to suddenly pull me aside and call me out for public indecency?"

She glowered, but Mia spoke again before she could say anything else.

"There's no chance of public indecency with you clinging to the bodice like your life depends on it." Her expression turned wicked. "What's the matter, are you trying to hide a hickey? Because-"

The shock of hearing what she was saying in front of Dimitri's family caused everything else to flee my mind as I snagged a spare hairtie from my wrist and shot it at Mia. It hit her square in the forehead as Lissa elbowed her in the ribs.

I was just about to shoot back a witty remark to take the attention off the implications of my sex life when I realised that nobody was remotely focussed on her comment anymore. Everyone on the long couch in front of me had gone very silent and very still, gazes locked on my chest.

I suddenly felt as though I knew what Tasha must have felt every time she spoke to someone knew; which was almost unbelievably ironic. _Not all marks are badges of honour,_ Dimitri had said. More than ever, I felt the weight of that.

The hand I'd removed from the bodice to attack Mia began to creep back into place, but the damage was done. I didn't see the point in trying to cover them again, but I did realise why I had been hiding them in the first place. I wanted to shield them from just how close I'd come to dying. It was ridiculous of course, as they all knew how touch-and-go it had been. But ever since then, I'd been brushing it off like it was merely an irritation. Most of all, I wanted to protect Lissa. I knew she'd feel guilty as the bullets were intended for her, and would want to heal me. I couldn't let her.

"Is that..." Sydney broke the silence, ever the one to speak her mind when there was a question she wanted answering.

"Um, yeah." I shifted from one foot to the other, trying to think of a joke to lighten up the tension. "Not as impressive as you'd expect, right?"

Their expressions shifted to mild disbelief, and Lissa looked teary again.

"I just need to run out back and find my measuring tape," Elodie piped up from the corner before walking gracefully out of the room. She couldn't have known what we were talking about, but a blind man could have picked up on the awkwardness in here.

"They don't notice too much," Viktoria ventured.

"That's BS, but thanks for trying," I said with a wry smile. "Look, it's fine. They're way better than they were, and I'm used to them."

Lissa didn't look convinced. Nobody did, really. "So why were you hiding them?"

I could talk tough all I wanted, but my actions were pretty damning. Sighing in resignation I cautiously sat down between her and my mom, trying not to damage the dress.

"Because I was trying to protect everyone. I might have taken the bullets, but Tasha screwed all of us over. She threatened Mia, almost hit you, killed Adrian's aunt and cost Christian his- not to mention betraying all our trust. Seeing these scars will remind everyone of that, and I don't want our wedding day to be tainted by the pain that she caused. It's supposed to be a happy day surrounded by the people we love supporting us, not being reminded of the ones that aren't around. There'll be enough of that already."

Lissa covered my hand with hers, silently comforting me. "Rose, you worry too much about us. We're not made of glass."

"I know, Liss. It's about me as well. It might be vain, but I don't want everyone to be gawking at the scars. I'm not ashamed of them or anything," I added, "it's almost the opposite. Whilst they're nothing to be proud of or happy about, they're a mark of my duty and dedication to my job. But for once, I kind of just want to be _Rose_, not Guardian Hathaway. I want to be girly and dress up and look pretty when I marry Dimitri, not be showing off scars given to me by the jealous psycho sorta-ex-girlfriend. Does that sound too conceited?"

Everyone rushed to assure me that it didn't, except Viktoria, who snorted in contempt.

"Ex girlfriend? She _must _have been insane if she Dimka would actually go near a _suka _like her."

"Try telling her that," I joked. I didn't bother mentioning that he almost had, in fact, 'gone near' Tasha. Fortunately he'd seen the truth about me, even if it had taken him a while to find out the truth about her.

I'd had enough of show and tell by this point, so I attempted to stand up and get the shopping rolling again. My mother, however, had a different idea.

She caught my shoulder as I made to move away, holding me in place. When her hand moved to my cheek, I was too shocked to move anyway.

"I'm sorry," she said, apologising for a thousand things in just that once phrase. She also said it like a promise, like the was swearing to be there in the future. She didn't need to add anything else. It was enough.

I hugged her quickly. "I know."

This time, after pulling away, I did manage to stand up before looking at myself critically in the mirror.

"It is a gorgeous dress. I love it, and aside from the neckline, everything's just how I imagined it." I tilted my head to the side as though hoping a different angle would suddenly make the rest of the dress seem ugly. "But there'll be loads more to try on."

The disappointment in my voice didn't go unnoticed.

"They might be able to do something about the neckline," Olena suggested. "They could put a panel of silk or lace behind to raise it a bit if that's what you wanted."

It wasn't a bad idea, actually. "Maybe I will. I'll look at some others first, but if I don't like any as much as this one, then I'll ask what they can do." I frowned as I looked in the mirror again. "I really do love this dress."

Elodie came back in right then, acting as though she hadn't been aware of anything happening.

"Alright?"

I nodded. "I love this one, but it's not perfect, so I'm going to try another."

Once we were back in the changing room, out of earshot of the others, Elodie spoke again.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing some of your conversation. Keeping in mind your specific requirements, I've found another dress that I think you'd like to see."

She unzipped a garment bag, and the puff of fabric that spilled from the opening alarmed me. Seeing my shock, Elodie laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not forcing you into a meringue. It's just the way it's been stored."

Poor storage or not, there was a lot more dress in that bag than there had been in any of the others. Still, I didn't have anything to lose, so stepped into the gown. This one laced up at the back, so Elodie didn't have to reuse any of the ugly clips to get the dress to stay up.

In reality the skirt wasn't too puffy, the material I'd seen was a fine gossamer-type fabric that held the shape but allowed it to move as I walked out of the changing room.

I looked in the mirror, and forgot how to breathe.

This was my dress.

The neckline, as promised, was straight enough that it covered the bullet wounds, but had just enough of a curve to it to enhance my chest. The bodice was scattered with the tiniest crystals and pearls, so small that they could hardly be seen as separate embellishments but more like someone had sown starlight into the dress. The satin itself was folded in sort of horizontal fan shapes across the top, the width of each fold increasing until the fabric hit my waist and the pleats flowed into the skirt.

Fuller than I had initially imagined, the dress began to flare softly at the waist in an A shape, some kind of organza type material holding the skirts away from my legs a little so that I had the freedom to move I had been lacking in the first dress. That fabric was what I had seen exploding out of the garment bag.

Looking into the mirror behind me, I could see that when I moved the tiniest hint of a train was visible, but which seemed to fold itself back into the skirt when I stood still. The laces showed off a good portion of my back; giving me an edge of sexy without being slutty.

It was perfect.

"I think know what that smile means," Elodie said, breaking me out of my reverie, "let's go and see if your friends and family do too."

A lifetime of training had caused my posture to become close to perfect. It was ridiculous, but as I walked out in this dress, I felt like I was floating. The practical, thrift-store clothes-wearing part of me rolled her eyes, but any sarcastic comments I might have thought of were drowned out by the ecstasy I felt. Forget Dimitri; I'd marry this dress.

This time when Lissa burst out crying, she wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes.

"Mom, are you crying?" I asked, only half joking.

"Of course not," she scoffed, before her voice softened. "But you do look absolutely beautiful- not that you don't always."

"Thanks, mom," I whispered. Ironically, I almost felt like crying myself. I had to get a grip. This was so not like me. All this wedding stuff was turning me into mush. "Look, Lissa's crying enough for two."

"Make that three," she snivelled. "The twins are crying as well. You look stunning, Rose!"

The others expressed the same sentiments.

"Dimka will be speechless when he sees you walking down the aisle, Roza," Olena said.

"That's fine, as long as he can manage 'I do'. Otherwise, the whole thing will be a bit of a waste of time."

I looked in the mirror again, trying to see myself through Dimitri's eyes. He said I was beautiful on my worst days, bed-headed and still wearing my crinkled uniform from the day before. Would this make that much of a difference to him, or would I just be me? People joked he'd marry me in a bin liner, so was it really worth spending this money on a dress when it could be spent on more important things, like dessert?

Another look at the flowing fabric, and I decided that maybe this actually was more important than chocolate. Or- shock horror- donuts.

A thought suddenly struck me, and I whirled to face my mom.

"Do you know what Abe's planning to wear? Please, _please_ don't let him turn up in bright yellow or something!"

Mom laughed along with the others. "I don't think even Abe would dare to upstage you on your wedding day, Rose." She paused. "But I'll check what he's planning to wear when he comes home tomorrow, just to be sure."

I prayed for a black or dark blue suit, and not some pearlescent monstrosity like the one he'd been talking about wearing to Lissa and Christian's wedding. "If he turns up looking like a canary, I'll treat him like one and he can stay locked up somewhere."

Viktoria giggled. "Lock him in a room with Babushka for a couple of hours."

"Now that is something I would pay a lot of money to see."

Olena admonished her daughter, but it was clear she was trying to hide her own amusement. "So, Roza, is that the dress?"

I looked down again, swishing the fabric around in an a way that I wasn't sure I'd ever done before. "I think it has to be. I can't imagine loving anything more than this one."

"100 % sure?" Sydney asked. "I agree that it's amazing, but there are loads of others you haven't seen yet and might fall in love with."

"If you take that approach with men, then you and Adrian are never going to tie the knot! If I can commit myself to one man for the rest of my life; I'm sure I can stay faithful to a dress I'll be wearing for one day."

Sydney blushed. "Right, of course."

"I take that as a definite yes, then," Elodie beamed. "It's truly a beautiful dress. What height of heel were you planning on wearing for the big day?"

"As high as the dress will accommodate. There's a lot of height difference to make up for, and I don't want my arms to start aching half way through our first dance."

Elodie ducked down to measure the length of the material that pooled around my feet. "Will three inches be high enough?"

I held my thumb and forefinger approximately that far apart before holding it against my forehead for my friends and family to check.

"I don't know, will that raise me up enough to see over his shoulder?"

Viktoria seemed to find that especially funny, giggling again. "Worried you'll miss out on your own wedding because you're being blinded by hugs?"

"Don't jest- it's a genuine issue. I'd like to kiss and dance with my husband on our wedding day without one or both of us ending up with neck ache for the rest of the week. I wore flats to Lissa's wedding. Never again."

"It could have been worse, Rose. You could have ended up with my height genes," my mom joked.

Now there was a thought.

"Three inches will be fine," I assured Elodie. "Take me to the shoes."

Half an hour later, and I had been kitted out with a pair of white satin slingbacks with tiny rhinestone embellishments. Funding shoes had turned out be harder than finding the dress, since my poor feet were so used to being crammed into Converse or combat boots all day that they protested terribly at even the thought of those thin straps. Finally, though, I was done.

"Because that dress laces up at the back, the corset fits perfectly. You won't need any alterations, so you can take it away today!" Elodie told me. "That almost never happens. It's like that dress was made for you!"

I followed her to the till to pay for my gown and shoes whilst the girls flipped through the racks of bridesmaids dresses, searching for something to wear. Since I was here with them, I'd let them have free reign with their dresses as long as they didn't clash with my colour scheme. They'd probably do a better job than I could.

As Elodie rang up the price of the dress, I saw $400 dollars flash up, before a -25% replaced the red figures. She smiled as she caught my eye over the top of the till.

"The sign above the door isn't just a fancy catchphrase. We really do try to make happy ever afters happen. From what I can tell, you deserve one."

My internet research into dress shopping etiquette hadn't prepared me at all for this possibility, but I wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth. Instead, I thanked Elodie and reminded her that there were two more women in serious relationships currently in the shop, and that they would be more than likely to return here when the time came.

As it was, the girls hadn't hung about choosing the dresses they'd be buying here today. By the time I'd battled with the credit card reader and Elodie had managed to get my dress back into its garment bag (once again making it look like a meringue) my bridesmaids were standing in a square formation in front of the sofa, Lissa and Viktoria standing tall in front, Sydney and Mia behind.

Lissa and Viktoria both had long dresses, whilst Sydney and Mia were wearing ones that ended just above the knee. I was proud of Sydney and Viktoria for their choices, since a year ago it would have been the other way around- Sydney pulling her skirt down as far as it would go, Vika hiking hers up. They'd both grown and found their centre.

Their deep purple dresses somehow managed to bring out both the gold in Vika's hair and the green of Lissa's eyes. The empire waist made the tiny baby bump invisible.

Mia and Sydney's shorter dresses were made of an aqua chiffon that reminded me of water when they moved.

My first reaction would have been to point out how much we would be getting laid after wearing these dresses, but since there were parents present, it wasn't very appropriate. I settled for something mom-friendly instead.  
"You're putting me to shame with your bridesmaid skills, you know that, right? Because I would never have come up with those, but you all look amazing."

"Really?" Lissa began to fret. "Because if they're not perfect, then we can look for more. Having two colours and cuts is kind of risky I know, but-"

"Liss, they're perfect," I cut in. "You all look stunning, This is one of those things that I might have to admit that you know best on."

"She _must_ be impressed if she's saying we know best!" Mia exclaimed.

"Really?" I unsuccessfully attempted to raise one eyebrow. "I could still go all Bridezilla on you. I can already feel sleep deprivation shortening my temper." It was meant as a joke, but I could feel fatigue beginning to creep in. I'd be fine to drive home, once I was out of this shop. I'd been hanging around in one place for too long, and despite many hours spend on Guardian duty, I'd never been able to completely shake off the need to keep moving. Today had undeniably been fun, but I wanted to leave before it had time to become tedious and the memories we'd made today became distorted by the ever-slower passage of time. Now that we'd found all the dresses (aside from Zoya's flower girl dress, but Karolina would deal with that) I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed with the incredibly sexy man already there.

They bought the dresses. After assuring everyone that _yes,_ I did love them and _no, _I didn't need to see any more, it was finally time to leave. It had been fun, but it was getting late and everyone was getting closer to needing to call it a night. The Moroi were feeling especially fatigued due to the bright sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling shop windows, and Sydney was going into caffeine withdrawal. This called for emergency measures.

"You'll make a beautiful bride," Elodie told me as I attempted to balance the huge, puffy garment bag over my shoulder. "I hope your wedding is perfect and leads to an equally wonderful marriage."

Once you got over the cliché wording, the sentiment was quite nice.

"We will. Thank you for all your help." I met the human's eyes as I said it, trying to convey my thanks for the reduction in the dress' price. I didn't like receiving charity, but since Elodie had described it as a goodwill gesture, I was willing to accept it as that. I just wanted to get moving again, and get home to bed. Thus far, I'd successfully been blocking thoughts of the two-hour drive to get there.

I took a deep breath of warm summer air as I stepped outside the store, the scents of the small city so much more intense than at Court. Exhaust fumes and baking asphalt mixed with the smell of coffee and frying food from the diner across the street. It reminded me of Portland, of summer days equal parts fun and fear, just me and Lissa against the world. Though I sometimes missed the bond we'd shared then- both the magical one and the one forged from being the only person the other had left- I wouldn't change what we had now for anything. We were a family, our whole crazy troop of misfits that somehow tessellated into a mosaic picture of something close to perfection, if not quite there.

Meredith still sat on her bench, this time holding two trays of cardboard cups.

"Did someone ask for caffeine?" she called. Sydney shot over to her at the speed of light, grabbing the cup Meredith held out and beginning to chug it down straight away. If she could do the same thing with alcohol, then I was in for a hell of a bachelorette.

The rest of the group made our way over more leisurely, and I caught Lissa's eye over the rim of my chai as I sipped appreciatively. There was a faraway look in her eyes that made me wonder if she was reliving the same fond memories of our illicit freedom. Now all I needed was the sight of mountains on the horizon and the scent of pine, and my trip down memory lane would be complete. St Vladimir's would always be the place I associated with the word 'home', but really, it was the people that made it special. I was already half way there, and just as soon as I got these guys back without falling asleep at the wheel, I'd truly be home.

As I adjusted the driver's seat, which had magically altered position since I'd got out of it two hours ago, Viktoria leaned through the gap to show me something on her phone.

"I just got a text from Babushka. It says 'third time lucky'."

Some people behind were surprised by the fact that Yeva had correctly identified the dress I would buy, but something else caught my attention.

"Wait, Yeva texted you? Like, _she can text_?!" If that ancient lady could use a mobile phone correctly, then I might have to change my opinion of her a little. As in, be more afraid than ever.

"No, Roza," Viktoria laughed. "It came from Paul's number."

"Oh," I sighed in relief. Now that confusion was cleared up, I was free to be irritated by her accurate prediction. "I guess she'll be adding another tally to her scorecard of times she's accurately predicted something and proved me wrong. You know how ancient archers used to carve notches onto their bow for the number of people they'd killed? I bet Yeva has a notched knitting needle just for me."

VAVAVA

I managed to drive back to Court without falling asleep at the wheel, but not everyone managed to stay conscious. The Moroi dropped off first, followed by Viktoria and then Meredith. Mom and Olena stayed awake to talk to me, and we discussed the finer details of the wedding that had yet to be planned. It was nice, being able to talk the two mother-figures in my life and seeing them get along. I'd been so worried about how their different personalities might clash, but I should have known better. Dimitri had joked that we were both similar enough to our respective mothers that they had to at least be able to put up with each other. How things would mesh with Abe had yet to be seen, but since he was getting back from his trip tomorrow- or today, now- we'd find out soon enough.

After waking up those who had fallen asleep and packing them off to their respective apartments, I walked with Lissa and Dimitri's family back to the palace.

"I bet Christian's sprawled all over my side of the bed," Lissa sighed. "I'm going to have to wake him up to get him to move, which'll probably take half an hour in itself."

"Just push him off the edge," I suggested. "Best case scenario, you get the bed and he sleeps through it. Worst, he wakes up quickly and you grab the bed and pretend to fall asleep before he can rage at you."

Lissa looked at me disapprovingly. "That's mean. Would you do that to Dimitri?"

"Nah, I'd have to be able to lift him first. Not everyone's a 100-pound lightweight like your ballerina of a boyfriend." Viktoria snickered. "Anyway, he'll probably wake up before I even have the door open. He's like a guard dog with an internal alarm clock set to horrendously early morning wakeups."

"Don't let him make you think that's always been the case, Rose," Olena said, amusement in her voice. "When he was home from school during the holidays, there was no chance of getting him to wake up before midday, and even then it was only the smell of food cooking that would drag him downstairs."

"Huh! What a hypocrite with all that 'early bird' crap. He was just as much of a lazy teenager as I want to be."

Olena grinned. "He might have been able to wake up earlier if he didn't stay up so late reading with a torch under the covers."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." My mind formed the image of a teenage Dimitri curled up in bed, senses attuned to the slightest sound from outside that would spur him to click off the flashlight and pretend to be asleep. Only he could rebel in such a nerdy way.

As quietly as I could, I unlocked front door of the apartment and held it open for the others to tiptoe through. Lissa waved as she disappeared off through the door that led to the royal wing, and Olena and Viktoria kept walking down the corridor with me until they reached the guest room.

"Night Roza," Viktoria whispered as she hugged me, the hangers sticking out of our garment bags getting tangled up. Olena had to unhook them before she could bid me goodnight as well, taking both dresses to protect them from prying eyes (Christian's more than Dimitri's.)

"Night guys. See you in the morning for family meet and greet part two!"

Vika made a funny face that she would never have dared show in front of _Zmey_ himself before darting off to bed. It was amazing how much energy you realised you still had left when you knew you were barely moments away from blessed sleep.

I used the guest bathroom rather than the en suite in our room to avoid waking Dimitri up before using my ninja skills to enter the bedroom. My Dhampir sight utilising the thin beam of sunlight seeping through the gap in the blackout curtains, I made out Dimitri's sleeping form. Good, I hadn't woken him up yet. Taking my dress off in the dark almost proved to be my downfall as I wriggled around in the fabric, tripping over the shoes I'd kicked off and just managing to regain my balance before I could faceplant into the carpet. Navigating the chest of drawers to find a shirt didn't seem like a great idea, so I'd have to make do with my underwear as pyjamas, even if it did feel wrong with guests staying just next door. At least the warm weather gave me an excuse.

Finally, I was able to go to bed. Still congratulating myself over my silent ninja skills and not having woken Dimitri up, I carefully lifted a corner of the duvet and sat down, sliding one leg and then the other under the covers and shuffling down until I was covered. A draft would definitely wake Dimitri up.

Snuggling down, I turned to face Dimitri's back, pressing as close as I could to his warmth without actually touching him. My hand hovered as I debated whether or not I'd get away with wrapping an arm around his waist.

I could, it seemed; my hand settling on his chiselled abs as I my lips brushed the back of his neck, right where I knew his promise mark was.

"I think you've just wasted all your efforts at being stealthy." Dimitri's voice rumbled.

I lifted my hand again, as though reversing the action now would make up for my bad call before.

"How long have you been awake, and why did you pretend to still be asleep? If I'd known I'd woken you before, I wouldn't have bothered with stealth mode."

"It was funny to watch," he chuckled as he rolled over. "Besides, you didn't wake me. I woke up about half an hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep." He didn't need to explain what the interruption had been; it was written in the lines of his face that were just slightly harder than usual.

I cuddled closer, wishing I could banish his nightmares once and for all. Just because he'd forgiven himself didn't mean that his demons had finished with him. It was getting better though, time helping the memories to fade and weakening the ties to the past. He'd be free one day.

We didn't talk about it; the horrors of his nightmares banished from the waking world. All they were was shadows, and they couldn't exist if there was enough light.

"Did you find your dress?" Dimitri asked as his fingers traced anonymous patterns across my back.

"I did," I sighed. "You'll like it."

"Of course I will. You'll look beautiful in whatever you wear."

"Huh, so I could have saved $300 and just got married in my pyjamas."

I felt him smile against my hair. "Did I just breach some kind of girl code?"

"Sort of. But it would have been worse if you hadn't. Girls are mean like that. You'll never win." Growing up with sisters had kept him from being completely isolated from Girl World, but he was still a guy and pretty much clueless when clothes went beyond practicality- duster aside, of course. Luckily though, I wasn't too different. "Unless we let you."

He hummed in response, already becoming drowsy again. "Before I forget- Hans called earlier. We've still got our morning off duty tomorrow, but he wants to see us briefly about something. It'll probably be after our morning workout some time."

On days where one of us didn't have an early shift, which was about every other day, we'd head to the gym together to keep up our sparring and pair coordination, or just go for a run around Court. As great as a lie in tomorrow sounded, Olena and Viktoria would be leaving after lunch so we wanted to spend some more time with them before they left.  
"Fine. Just don't wake me up too early. If I'm tired then I won't be responsible for my actions if Hans says anything stupid."

I thought I heard him agree before I fell asleep, but honestly, the words could have been anything from 'love you' to 'donuts'. The former seemed more likely.

That night I dreamt of being serenaded by dancing confectionary which I then got to eat. It was a very good dream.

* * *

**No more excuses, I'll make a start on the next chapter tomorrow. Thanks, as always, for being great readers :) **

**Review and get to sneak into Dimitri's bedroom ;) **


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